LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf _...j.S.^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



MS 



Brief Sketch 



-OF- 



THE WALDErtSE 






"But go thou to the pastoral vales 
Of the Alpine mountains old, 
If thou wouldst hear innnnortal tales 
By the winds deep whispers told. 

"Go if thou lovest the soii to tread, 
Where man hath nobly striven, 
And life, like incense, hath been shed. 
An offerinfy unto heaven. 



"Ye are the ligtjt of the uuorid. a/ city that 
is set on a hill cannot be hi 

1893. 



uuorid. a/ city that / //y 7/ V 
hid." Math. 5:14. ^ ^Y^^J 



/ c- 



J. S. BouGHTcN Publishing Co., 

LAWRENCE, KAN3. 






Copyright by 

C, H. Strono. 

1893. 



PREFACE. 

This little book has grown out of a lecture 
upon the subject of the Waldensian Church, 
delivered, by appointment, before the Synod of 
Kansas, October 14th, 1880. The Synod seemed 
interested in the sketch, and took the followir-g 
action : 

"Whereas, This synod has heard with great 
satisfaction Brother StTong's lecture on the 
Waldenses; and 

"Whereas, We deem that its publication 
would subserve the cause of truth; therefore, 

''Resolved, That we request a copy from 
Brother Strong and have it published by our 
Board of Publication." 

Encouraged by the sentiment expressed by 
the Synod I have given the subject a more 
thorough study, and have ventured to enlarge 
the lecture into a book. In doing this I was 
very greatly aided by Rev. James Barnett, D. 
D., now deceased. He very kindly gave me the 
use of histories of this ancient pepole, which he 
had secured in London, and other books of ref- 
erence, together with copious notes, which he 
wrote for me when in such poor health that he 
could sit up but a short period at a time. 1 
most gratefully acknowledge his valuable aid. 



This little work does not presume to be an 
exhaustive account of that deeply interesting 
people, but only a brief sketch of their history. 
It is made up of fragments gathered from many 
sources which were often conflicting in their 
statements. This latter fact has made it diffi- 
cult to arrive at the truth with certainty; but 
the endeavor has been to record only authenti- 
cated facts. 

The writer, having found it so difficult to find 
any concise history of this church, thought this 
sketch might prove to be of some interest and 
value to many who have not the time for more 
extended study, but especially to the young 
With these prefatory words the book is 
placed in your hands. If it subserves in any 
way the cause of truth, or if the reader should 
take a tithe as much pleasure in it as the writer 
has in preparing it, it will be a sufficient com- 
pensation for the labor. C. H. S. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Their Name , 7 

CHAPTER II 

Their Country 14 

CHAPTER III. 

Tlieir Antiquity 23 

CHAPTER ly. 

Their Antiquity, Continued... 35 

CHAPTER Y. 

Their Antiquity, Concluded 42 

CHAPTER YI. 
Their Doctrine 51 

CHAPTER YIL 
Their Life 66 

CHAPTER YIII. 

Form of Church Government 78 

CHAPTER IX. 
Early Missionary Enterprise 88 



CHAPTER X. 
Persecutions 100 

CHAPTER XI. 
Persecutions, Continued Ill 

CHAPTER XII. 
Persecutions. Concluded 126 

CHAPTER XIII. 
E-e-established in their Yalleys 143 

CHAPTER XIV. 
After their return 158 

CHAPTER XV. 
Modern History and Work 165 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Romanism Unchanged 184 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Romanism Unchanged, Concluded. 199 



THE WALDENSES. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE NAME. 

THE people, whose footsteps we design 
to trace in this little book, are 
known in history by various i.ames. Soii:e 
of them were attributed to them as titles of 
reproach. Some are mere arbitrary names, 
deriv^ed from certain leaders among theni, or 
from certain places where they became num- 
erous. Some describe certain peculiar 
characteristics of their lives which appeared 
more prominent than others at different 
periods of their history. 

It is difficult, if not impossible, to trace 
any of the various religious movements of the 
early centuries by the names which their 
enenies applied to them. The Romish 
church regarded any person or sect that held 
views different from her tenets, or that de- 
nounced and opposed her corrupt practices, 



8 THE KAME. 

as heretical, and, like an angry boj or ^irl, 
shf atlempted to overwhelm them, or at least 
excite the opposition of the io^norant against 
them by calling them bad names, or apply- 
ing to them what she deemed reproachful 
titles. Hence the servants of the "Holy 
Mother Church,'' as she arrogantly 
called herself, were accustomed to apply 
names that indicated heresy indiscriminately 
to all who presumed to di:^er from her or 
to reprove her bad manners. 

As the greater part of the literature of 
those early centuries has come down to us 
through the channel of the Catholic church, 
and for the most part from Catholic writers, 
the names which they apply to the various 
sects are but a very imperfect guide in 
the study of their history. 

The Waldenses in common with other sects, 
without reference to anv similarity between 
them, except that they agreed in differing 
from the Romish church, were branded in the 
eleventh centurv, with the name of Manich- 
aeans, as though they were tainted with the 
doctrines of the Persian Mani, who in the lat- 
ter half of the third century attempted to 



THE NAME. 9 

form a new code of religious doctrines hj the 
fusion of the old Oriental system of religion 
with Christianity. This man in establishing 
his system, said concerning himself, ''What 
Buddlia was to India, Zoroaster to Persia, 
Jesus to the lands oi iLe West, I am to the 
country of Babylon." The Waldenses in 
their doctrines had no kinship to the Manich- 
aean philosophy. They were often times con- 
founded with the Albigenses, whose doc- 
trines were very similiarto their own. 

They were sometimes called Apostolicals 
because they adhered so closely to the Apos- 
tolic doctrines and customs. 

They were called Leonists, or Poor Men of 
Lyons, by those who regarded thenvas the 
followers of Peter Waldo, a reliofious reform- 
er of the twelth century. 

The story of this man is one of deep inter- 
est. The turning point in his life seems to 
have been somewhat similiar to that in the 
life of Martin Luther. He was attending an 
assembly of citizens in I^yons, when one of 
the number suddenly expired. This incident 
startled him into serious thought. He reflect- 
ed on what might at any time be his own lot 



10 THK XAME. 

The evcMit left so r>'Hverful an iiii-pre^i^ion on 
his mind that he resolved to abandon :ill (;tlirr 
concerns and give hinis( If and his possessions 
up to the interests of reliirion. Ho soon be- 
^an to feel t!i<; need of a more satisfaetorv 
knowledi^e of Christ and the doctrines of sal- 
vation tiian l]e (;Oald gain from the c];urjh 
teachers. He ]ong=ed to receive Lno\vhedoe 
from the orio-inal fonntjiia itself. He em- 
|:loy(^d two scholars, for a eeriain SLun of 
money, to [prepare for Ijim a traiih'ation of the 
gospels and other portions of the Bible, and 
also a colleelion of the savings of ih^^ church 
fathers, on matters of faith and practice. 

Like Liiilier, when he I>ecame accpiainted 
vvitii the Bible, he was astonished at thi.^ con- 
trast between the teachin^rs and practice of 
the cimrch, and tUe teachings of Christ and of 
tlie early clinrcli fathers. He was seized with 
an earnest desire to follow Christs doctrines, 
and the Apcstolic example. He vv-as a ricli 
mercliaiit, but he sold his possessions and dis- 
tributed to the p^oor. Re g.ive himself to the 
spread of evangelical truth among tlie neg- 
lected people in city and conntry. He soon 
secured a considerable followinof. 



thp: xame. U 

At first he and his companions had no 
thought of seriarati^^o- themselves from the 
Catl)(.^l;c chuivh. He meant simply to estab- 
lish a spiritual society, like many other with- 
in the churcli. Practical religion vvas the 
great thought in thv-ir minds. But their 
teaching and practice was so out of harmony 
with the eccle.siastic customs and spirit, that 
they called down upon their devoted heads, 
the anathema of the chuiclj of Rome. 

Now many historians declare that the 
Waldensian church sprung from this religious 
movement in Lyons, in the latter half of the 
twelfth century, and that the name Walden- 
ses is derived from Waldo or Waldus, the 
name by which this reformer is known in his- 
tory. Such a derivation would be very honor- 
able, but there are many good reasons to 
doubt its ofenuineness. 

First. There does not seem to be any his- 
torical certainty as to the original name of 
this man. Mosheim describes him thus 
"Peter an opulent merchant of Lyons, sur- 
named Valdensis or Yalidisius, from Vaux 
or JValdum^ a town in the marquisate of 
Lyons*" Now who will t^U us his realnamo? 



12 THE I^AME. 

Was it Waldus, or Valdensis, or Validisius? 
No one denies the existence of this reformer, 
who is now known in history as Peter Waldo. 
Bat was that his original name. The learned 
Beza and other writers of note claim that his 
name is derived from the Waldenses, whose 
doctrines he adopted. I think this the more 
reasonable view, for the Waldenses existed 
as a distinct and well known sect loner before 
this man was born, as will be shown in suc- 
ceedinof chapters. 

Second. The Waldenses themselves deny- 
that their name is derived properly from 
Waldo. They claim that their name is de- 
rived from their native valleys in Piedmont. 
The French form of the word for valley is 
"PaZ, which has its plural Vaux^ and thence 
the adjective Vaudois. The Italian form of 
the word for valley gives the adjective Val- 
lences, strengthened into Valdenses, and cor- 
rupted in English into Waldenses. 

Third. They have a piece of ancient liter- 
ature called "The Noble Lesson" which bears 
date eleven hundred, more than fifty years 
before Peter of Lyons was known in history. 
Neander says concerning this document, 



THE NAME. 13 

"We have no just grounds for skepticism 
Avith regard to the date which this product- 
ion attributes to itself." This document, 
after describing certain of their doctrines and 
customs says, "Now such a one is called a 
Waldensian." The existence of their name 
in this document proves that it could not 
have been derived from Peter Waldo of 
Lyons. 

We may very properly conclude that their 
name is derived from the valleys in which 
they have, with the exception of a few years 
always lived. It is probable that the deriva- 
tion of their name from Peter Waldo arose 
from the desire on th^ part of their enemies 
to fasten upon these faithful people of the 
valleys the reproach of the irregularities and 
errors in doctrine and practice of which the 
followers of this reformer were sometimes 
guilty. 

The name which these people prefer is 
Vaudois. By this name they are almost uni- 
versally known on the continent of Europe. 
In England and the United States they aro 
generally called Waldenses. 

The question as to the origin of their name 
is important chiefly because of its bearing on 
their antiquity as a body of Christian people. 



CHAPTER II. 

THEIR COUISTTRY. 

IN the northern part of Italy is the prov- 
ince of Turin, whose capitol city is of 
the same name. It embraces the beautiful 
and fertile plain of the Po. This plain is 
bounded on the west and north by the rug- 
ged Alps, which bend around it in the form 
of a crescent. This' chain of mountains is 
known in different parts of its course by dif- 
ferent names, as the Maritime Alps, the Co- 
tian Alps, the Retian Alps, the Noric Alps. 
The country, which has come to be so cele- 
brated, because inhabited by the Waldenses, 
is on the Italian side of the Cotian Alps, be- 
tween the districts of Pignerol and Briancon. 
Daupheny and Savoy lie upon the western 
side of this country of the Waldenses. The 
Vaudois valleys lie south-west from Turin and 
about thirty miles distant, remote from the 
plains, closely hemmed in by the mountains, 



THEIR OOU:?TTRY. 15 

in many places accessible only by narrow and 
precipitious ravines. The district does not 
comprehend more than sixteen square miles. 
It is somewhat triangular in shape. It is 
bounded as near as we can iix the lines, on 
the North by the Dora Ripaira, on the South 
by the head waters of the Po, on the West by 
the province of Daupheny, with the plain of 
Turin to the East. It is enclosed on all sides 
by the Alps, while great spurs from the 
mountains divide it into three n^ain vallevs, 
the Perouse, Luccrna and San Mariir.o. These 
valleys opening from the higher Alps descend 
into the rich plains of Piedmont below. 
Through each a rapid stream or torrent fed by 
perpetual snows and glaciers, rushes with a 
varying current, and mingles at length with 
the stately Po. 

The first named valley, the Perouse, is 
drained by the river Clusone, but a small por- 
tion, however, of the region drained by this 
river beloncrs now to the Waldenses. It was 

o 

too much exposed to Catholic Turin for them 
to occupy it unmolested. They were com- 
pelled to yield it foot by foot until now the 
only pan of the valley that remains in their 



]6 



THEIR COUNTRY. 



possession is a narrow strip on the western 
bank of the river, containintr the three parish- 
es of Parustin, St. Germain and Pramol. 

The valley of Lucerna lies soath of Perouse, 
and is traversed by the river Pelice, and 
other streams of considerrble importance. 
Like the valley of Perouse, it widens as it de- 
scends from the cracrs above, and melts into 
the general softness of the Italian mountain 
scenery. It is the most fertile of all the val- 
leys, and is said also to be possessed of un- 
rivaled charms. ^'Its thick and almost perpet- 
ual foliage, its groves of mulberry trees, its 
woods of chestnuts, the waiving fields of 
golden grain, its vineyards climbing up the 
mountain sides, its temperate air, its count- 
less hamlets" must present a most delightful 
spectacle to the eyes of the beholder, and 
make it a delightful place to live. 

Leger, the historian of the Waldenses, said 
of this valley, while he was an exile from it 
because of papal persecution, '*It would in- 
deed be a Paradise if it were not so near the 
Jesuits of Turin." 

"At present," says one who has recently 
visited this country, 'nts innocent and happy 



THEIR COUNTRY. 



17 



people seem to rest in perfect peace beneath 
the shelter of the encircling Alps." 

Within this valley of Lucerna is a lesser 
valley named Angrocrna, so called from the 
river which drains it, and which is one of the 
main tributaries of the Peiiece. This stream 
takes its rise in a wild mountain region, 
among the high Alps, in the very center of 
the Waldensian territory. The narrow strip 
of land traversed by this river, from its se- 
cluded position, rendering it alm.ost inacces- 
sible to a hostile force, has been in all ages 
called the ''Holy Valley" of the Waldenses. 

Though Agriculturally of but little import- 
ance, historically it is not the least among 
the valleys. ''To this retired region have the 
people often withdrawn, as to an asylum that 
could not be invaded, when most sorely 
pressed by their foes." Within this region 
was the sacred spot called the "Shiloh" of 
the vallevs, where in former ag-es the Wald- 
ensian Synod met," and here also was located 
the "school of the prophets," In a place cal- 
led the Pra del Tor, very high up toward the 
head waters of the Anoroa-na, secure fror.i all 
interruption, the young men designing to en- 



IS THEIR COUNTRY. 

ter the gospel iiiinistrv, asstniihlecl from the 
diiTerent vallevs, to pursue such studies as 
were deemed esseutial to fit tliem for the ^vo^k 
of the niiaistry. This Theoh)gical School, it 
may be, was a rude institut":)!), compa^'^d 
with some of our modern Seminaries, never- 
theless it sent forth many noble bands of 
missionaries, to preacli the pure o-ospel of 
Christ, long before the period of the Refor- 
mation, and when the rest of the Christian 
world was perishing for lack of knowledge. 
San Martino is the third main valley of the 
Waldenses. It lies w^est of the valley of Per- 
ouse. Its chief river is the Germanesca. 
The reg-ion drained bv this river contains but 
little bottom land. Indeed it is but little 
wider than the bed of the torrent which rush- 
es through it. Its productive capacity, there- 
fore, is not nearly so great as that of Lucerna. 
The scenery however is more startling, 
changing frequently and suddenly from the 
simijJv beautiful and gentle to the wildest 
and most rugged. It is located in the high- 
er Alps, and as you ascend the valley the al- 
ready narrow strip of bottom land grows more 
narrow, and upon either side it is wailed high 



THEIR COUXTKY. 19 

v.itli masses of naked rock, broken here and 
there bv deeu \.oo .-d ravines, thus preser^t- 
ino- a series of scenic pictures, which are al- 
ways beautiful, sometimes weird and wild, 
ai^d often ^rand and sublim.e. In such of 
these deep ravines as have a northern expos- 
ure, and which extend far up toward the sum- 
mit of the mountains, grent niai::ses of snow 
o-laciers ma-\' be constantly seen si;arkiinc»- 
and £rh'stenino' beneath the ravs of the midday 
s u n . 

Historically San 2>Jartino is the most im- 
portant of these interesting valleys. The 
GermaTiesca, passing thruuoh between stu- 
pendious masses of rock, piled up on either 
side, is the natural gate- way into tins seclud- 
ed valley, which seems to have been prepared 
by God Himself, the defender of His people, 
as a refuge and safe retreat for his persecute 
ed ones. A space, barely wide enough for a 
road, has been hewn out of the solid rock 
al(;ng the river where it emerges into the 
valley of Perouse. Nothing could be easier 
than to block up this narrow roadway and ef- 
fectually prevent the entrance of a hostile 
force. This fact has constituted San Martinp 



20 THEIR COUNTRY. 

for ages the citadel of the Vaudois, their last 
refuge for the preservation of religious free- 
dom. Often have the Waldenses put a check 
upon the advancing squadrons of their 
enemies, by shutting up this narrow pass-way. 
Often when the papal troops had swept over 
the sister valleys, defiling their fairer and 
more gentle scenery with the blood of the in- 
nocent, and filling them with desolation, the 
brave people of this interior vale have defied 
the invaders. The persecutors have feared to 
enter this narrow pass at all, for they knew 
that the Waldenses could destroy them here 
by rolling liuge stones down upon tliem from 
the crags above. And even when they have 
stealthily passed through this narrow gate- 
way, and entered the valley, they have ad- 
vanced with trembling caution, for they had 
learned that every cave and ravine along the 
mountain sides was tenanted by a fearless 
garrison. Many times have vast numbers of 
the Popes' forces been slaughtered here by 
a few of these brave mountaineers. 

In the upper part of this valley is the par- 
ish of Marcel, Just beneath the Col du Pis is 
the hamlet of Balsille. On the left bank of 



THEIR COUXTKY. 21 

the mountain torrent, near this little hamlet 
is that famous cone-shaped mass of rock, 
called the Balsi« Here a small force can hold 
in check and defend themselves against al- 
most any number of assailants. Hence this 
rock was the last resort for this persecuted 
people in the hour of imminent peril. And 
so often did a few brave Waldenses beat 
back from this point, vast armies of their 
enemies, that it has come to be known as the 
Thermopylae of the valleys. 

The climate of this valley is severe its peo- 
ple hardy, the snow lies for eight or nine 
months on the ground, the crops are scanty, 
the herbage faint and rare. The rushing 
mountain torrent the shrill cry of the marmot, 
the shriek of the eagle, alone disturb the si- 
lence of the Vaudois Sabbath in this upper 
valley. Here the graceful chamois may be 
seen leaping from peak to peak of his mount- 
ain home- Here the popes have never been 
able, except for one brief interval, to enforce 
their authority. Here no mass has been said, 
no images adored, no papal rites administered 
by the native Vaudois or witnessed by them. 
And it was here that Henry Arnaud, one of 



99 



THEIR CUUXTKY. 



the heroes or tlie valleys, redeemed his coun- 
try from the tyranny of the Jesuits and Rome. 
And here, as Munston says in ''The Israel of 
the Alps," a Christian ohurch, founded, per- 
haps, in the apostolic age, has survived tha 
persecutions of a thousand years.'' Here 

"A spirit strons^er than the sword, 

And loftier than despair, 

Through all the heroic rei^-i on poured. 

Breathes in the generous air 

'^A memory clings to every steep 

Of long-enduring Taith, 

And tjje sounding strean>!^ glad record 

keep 
Of courao-e unto death.'' 



CHAPTER TIT. 

TIIKIR ANTIQUITY. 

BUT interesting as is the geography of 
these valleys, there is no question 
concerning their inhabitants more interesting 
or important than the matter of their antiqui- 
ty as a Christian people. Our interest in 
them, as part of the Christian church, is very 
mucii affected by the views which we may 
hold with reference to their orio-in. It is true, 
whatever may have been their origin, their 
history is still interesting and of vast import- 
ance, whatever their antiquity they have 
played too important a part in the history of 
the Christian Church to be passed over in si- 
lence, or carelessly. But if it be established 
that they took their origin in the first centu- 
ries of the Christian era, and that the pure 
doctrines of the gospel have come down 
through the ages by their instrumentality, 
without being defiled by papal errors and 
corruptions, like the Gulf stream flowing on 
through the ocean without mingling with its 
waters; if it be true that this once fearfully 



24 THEIK ANTIQUITY. 

persecuted people is the true connecting" link 
between the Apostolic Church and the Prot- 
estant Reformation, then our interest in their 
history must be greatly hightened. With 
this view of their antiquity there could 
scarcely be an incident concerning them that 
would not be magnified into something of 
importance. But upon this question there is 
a very wide and decided difference of 
opinion. 

All the so called standard works, which [ 
have been able to consult, aoree in placinor 
their origin in the twelfth century, with more 
or less positiveness. Mosheim is very positive 
in his opinion. He declares that Peter Waldo 
of Lyons was the originator of this sect, and 
in a foot note he says that those who date 
their origin earlier have no authority to sup- 
port their assertion, and, that they are amply 
refuted by the best historians. Neander 
takes substantially the same view, but not 
with the same positiveness. Zells' Cycloped- 
ia and Chambers' also, are positive in refer- 
ing them to the same origin. The American 
Cyclopedia does the same thing but not with 
so much dogmatism. 



THEIR AXTIQUTTY. 25 

But notwithstandincr this formidable array 
of so called standard authorities, 1 am per- 
suaded that the commonly accepted theory, 
that they f^xisted as a distinct sect of Christ- 
ians long before Peter Waldo was born, and 
that they never were in connection with the 
papal church, is capable of abundant proof, 

Mosheim in a fooi note makes this im- 
portant admission, "I do not mean to deny 
that there were in the valleys of Piedmont 
lonor before this period, a set of men who dif- 
fered widely from the opinions adopted by 
the church of Rome, and whose doctrines re- 
sembled in many respects those of the Wal- 
denses. x\ll that I maintain is, that these in- 
habitants are to be carefully distinguished 
from the Waldenses, who, according to the 
unanimous voice of history, were originally 
inhabitants of Lyons and derived their name 
from Peter Waldo" 

It does not very satisfactorily appear why 
Dr. Mosheim insists upon distinguishing be- 
tween these native inhabitants of the valleys, 
who maintained doctrines similar to the Wal- 
denses, and the W^aldenses. His own admis- 
sion all but refutes his own proiiounded opin- 



26 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

ion. It is true he says the unanimous voice 
of history is upon his side. But here his 
statement is altogether too sweeping* to carrv 
weight with it. He is certainly presuming 
when he makes such a declaration, for it is 
not true that history unanimously affirms thie 
origin of the ^Yaldenses from Peter Waldo. 
If it had been true there would have been 
no need for him to arn-ue the case which he 
does. 

Another foot note, perhaps by the translat- 
or of Mosheim, takes a different view. It 
reads thus, ''We may venture to affirm the 
contrary with the learned Beza and other 
writers of note, for it seems evident from the 
best records that Waldus derived his name 
from the true Waldenses of Piedmont, whose 
doctrines he adopted, and who were known 
by the name Vaudois or Yaldeness, before be 
or his immediate followers existed." So we 
see that even "doctors will differ." That this 
latter view is the correct one w^e think is 
clear from the chapter on the origin of their 
name. 

Neander, also, makes an important admis- 
sion in this same direction. After havino^ de- 



TllEIK AXTIQUITY. 21 

rived them from Peter Waldo in the twelftii 
century, he says in another place. '^But it 
was not without some foundation of truth 
that the Waldenses of this period asserted 
the high antiquity of their sect, and main- 
tained that from the secularization of the 
church, that is, as they believed, from the 
time of Constantine's gift to the Roman 
Bishop, Sylvester, such an opposition, as fi- 
nally broke forth in them, had been existing 
all along." 

The American Cyclopedia also, makes this 
statement, '•'Probably an opposition to the 
Roman Catholic church, not unlike the Wal- 
densian or the kindred Albigensian move- 
ment, existed in some of the Alpine valleys 
long prior to the date just named." These 
are very important admissions to begin with, 
coming as they do from the very authors 
which assert their more modern origin. These 
statements make it very clear at least, that 
there was an ancient sect of Christians, who 
inhabited these valleys long before Peter 
Waldo was born, and that they held doc- 
trines similar to the Waldenses, and so far as 
I can learn there is no historical evidence 



28 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

that these native inhabitants of the valleys 
were ever driven away from their country 
until long after Waldo's day, or that they 
were ever instructed by Waldo or his 
disciples. 

From History it is very clear that some of 
the followers of Peter Waldo, under papal 
persecution fled to these valleys, and were 
very warmly and cordially received. This 
cordialty doubtless arose from the similarity 
of their faith, and would indicate that Peter 
of Lyons derived his doctrines from the 
teachers of the valleys, rather than they from 
him. It is very much like the parents open- 
ing their arms to receive back their own 
children in the time of distress and affording 
them protection. 

But let us see what positive evidence can 
be found to establish their claim to a very 
early origin as a Christian people, testifying 
against the errors of Rome. 

Not three centuries from the death and 
resurrection of the Saviour had passed away, 
before the good news of salvation through 
him was spread over all the provinces of the 
Roman empire, and received with joy by a 



THEIR ANTIQUITY.- 29 

considerable part of their population. Dur- 
inur these centuries those who professed the 
Christian name were exposed to the most 
terrible persecutions from their Pagan en- 
emies. Thousands and hundreds of thous- 
ands were destroyed. by fire and sword, by 
instruments of torture, and by the fangs of 
wild beasts in the amphitheater. These very 
persecutions served to exhibit to the popular 
mind the power of the new faith and the 
glory of the hope which it planted in the 
breast of its possessor. Consequently the 
persecution of the Christian sect by the Pa- 
gans won more souls to the service of Christ 
than the terrors of punishment could drive 
from him. 

And so while the sufferings through which 
Christians were so frequently called to pass, 
and the manner "!n which they were able to 
bear themselves under their trials had the ef- 
fect to commend the religion of Christ to the 
popular mind, there was one other good re- 
sult, the church was kept comparatively free 
from false professors and hypocrites. But 
no sooner was a season of external peace 
granted to the church, along with numerous 



30 TIIEIH ANTIQUITY. 

temporal advantages, than the Christian life, 
sound doctrine, and divine worship were 
deteriorated. 

From the beginning of the fourth century 
the Christians had obtained to such influence 
and power in the government that external 
peace was secure. We cannot follow up the 
abuses of power that were practiced by 
the Church in her new position, or the grad- 
ual ascendency of corrupt doctrines and pract- 
ices which followed, but the right path of 
sound doctrine, the purity and simplicity of 
the "life hidden within Christ," were not 
abandoned by the Church without a long re- 
sistance on the part of the sound portion of 
her members. 

Who can recount all the efforts that were 
made to avert so great a calamity? Who 
can tell all that was attempted to avert such 
a shipwreck of the faith? My limits wdll not 
permit me to follow up this noble line of ef- 
forts, suffice it to say that under various lead» 
ers, and designated by various names, and in 
various parts of the Church vigorous efforts 
were put forth to prevent the encroachment 
of error and corruption, and to withstand the 
arrogance of Rome. 



THEIR AXTIQUITY. 31 

Intelliofent study and conscientious invest- 
io-ation brin^ to litrht scattered facts, which 
at first seem like traces half e:ffaced, but in 
which we soon recognize the vestag-es of a 
church oppresssd, but always militant. Many 
of these facts appearing at unequal interyals 
and often in different places seem to con- 
verge toward a common center, and when 
followed up closely many of them lead us 
back to the valleys of Piedmont. 

In the fourth century, Vigilantius, a Pres- 
byter of the Spanish Church, having exposed 
himself to persecution by his testimony 
against saint worship and monkery, w-as ob- 
liged to leave his country. He journeyed 
into the iVlpine region, where, finding a peo- 
ple like minded, he united himself w^ith them. 
Jerome refering to him after his flight says, 
'^He wrote from the region situated between 
the waves of the Adriatic and the Alps of 
King Cotius." Now this locality is precise- 
ly the same as that occupied by the Walden- 
ses. This fact proves that as early as the 
fourth century there was a people in this Al- 
pine region which opposed some of the errors 
of Rome. 



32 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

In the eighth century a large body of 
Paulicians retreated from the persecution of 
the Greek E.nperors into Thrace and Bul- 
garia, and being driven thence by the people 
of those countries they traveled westward 
until they reached the Alps, where they 
found a people like themselves, and settled 
among them. 

In the beginning of the ninth century, 
x\lcuin, who lived in the court of Charle- 
magne, says that the churches in the Alps 
did not practice confession as the others of 
Italy did. 

Claude, who came to the bishopric of 
Turin, which included the valleys of which 
we write, about the year 822, and died 839 
was a vigorous op poser of the errors of 
Rome, and a faithful advocate of the pure 
doctrines of the Bible. He was a man of 
strong character, and must have exerted a 
powerful influence during his episcopate of 
seventeen years. It is plain from some 
fragments of his writings which remain that 
he was no inovator, but an upholder of doc- 
trines that were held by many in his diocese. 

The history of his times and of his oontro- 



THEIR ANTIQUITY. 33 

versy which he had with the image worship- 
ers of Rome is as a beacon which illumines the 
night of these remote times, and reflects afar 
its briliiaat and beautiful light. By its 
brightness we discern in the distance the 
Waldensian valleys, where the sacred flame 
of the gospel which Claude had revived and 
maintained, continued to burn long after 
similar tires in other parts had been drowned 
out by the floods of persecution. 

The existance of a sect of (Christians sepa- 
rated from Rome, in the north of Italy, is 
clearly proved also from the epistles of 
Hatto, who in the year 945, held the diocese 
of Vercelli, situated between Turin and 
Milan. In some of them he speaks of persons 
who had left the church, and describes them 
as beinof in the neio-hborhood of his ow^n dio- 
cese. The doctrinal and other points which 
he specifies as separating them from the 
church of which he was bishop, appear to be 
those w4iich were held by the Vaudois. 

These facts indicate that the lamp of truth 
and of freedom of conscience had not been 
utterly extinguished in the northern part of 



34 THEIR AXTIQUITY. 

Italy, where the \Yaldensian vallej-s are lo- 
cated. 

In addition to these facts we find that 
certain persons were from time to time perse- 
cuted and put to death, who it appears had 
imbibed their so called heretical views from 
teachers from this part of ttalj, doubtless 
from the identical valleys of Piedmont them- 
selves Italy is pointed out, on two occasions 
as the native country of these abetors of so 
called heresy. We believe therefore that the 
facts we have presented go to prove the ex- 
istance of a faithful church during the e irly 
centuries located in the bosom of the Italian 
Alps. In the next chapter we will lay before 
our readers more conc.usive evidence. 



I 



CHAPTER IV. 
THEIR ANTIQUITY. — Continued. 

WE cannot fix the exact date when 
these people of the valleys receiv- 
ed the gospel, for it is lost in the obscurity 
of a remote past. History gives ns no cert- 
ain account of their conversion to Christian- 
ity. But the facts mentioned in the last 
chapter leave no doubt that as early as the 
fourth century at least they were a Christian 
people, and gave refuge to some who fled 
from Rome's persecutions. 

The Waldenses themselves have a two- 
fold tradition respecting their origin; one 
more general, the other m.ore in detail, and 
both very exact. 

In all the persecutions through which they 
have passed from the fifteenth century and 
later, in the appeals which they have made 
at different times to their sovereigns they 
have uniformly maintained that their religion 
had been preserved from father to son, from 



S6 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

generation to oreneration, "from time im- 
memorial." Moreover not only those who 
lived in the valleys of Piedmont, but all who 
have laid claim to the name, in all places, 
have constantly maintained that they re- 
ceived their way or religions belief from 
Leon, a contemporary of Sylvester, bishop of 
Rome, under the Emperor Constantine the 
Great. . 

Many of the most intelligent pastors sup- 
pose that the doctrines of the gospel were 
first proclaimed in the valleys by Paul him- 
self, and that the valleys became an asylum 
to'wbichthe persecuted Christians fled in the 
days of Nero. 

The Christians of Rome, scattered by this 
terrible event, would naturally seek refuge 
in the mountains, and of course would carry 
the gospel with them. This is the opinion 
of Henry Arnaud, one of the most intelligent 
of the Waldensian pastors. He says, ''The 
Waldenses are in fact descended from those 
refugees from Italy, who after St. Paul had 
there preached the gospel, abandoned their 
beautiful country, and fled like the woman 
mentioned in the Apocalypse, to the wild 



TH'EIR AXTTQUITY. 37 

mountains, where they have to this day 
handed down the fi^ospel from father to son 
in the same purity and simplicity as it was 
preached by Paul." 

And so all their writers ao-ree in placing 
their origin at a period as early as before 
Constantine of the third century. Soon after 
the dawn of Christianity, they assert, their 
ancestors embraced the faith of St. Paul, and 
practiced the simple rites of the gospel. The 
Scriptures became their only guide, the same 
belief, the same sacraments they maintain to- 
day, they held in the days of Constantine and 
Sylvester. They relate that as the Romish 
church grew in power and pride their ancest- 
ors repelled her assumptions, and refused to 
submit to her authority. 

In 1835 Robert Olevitan, whom Leger the 
historian, speaks of as '"one of the most ex 
cellent pastors of the valleys," prepared a 
French version of the Bible. In its preface 
are found these words, dedicating the work 
to God '^It is to thee alone I present this pre- 
cious treasure, in the name of a certain poor 
people, thy friends, and brethren of Jesus 
Christ, who ever since they were blessed and 



38 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

enriched with it by the aj^^ostles and amV)as- 
sadors of Christ, have still possessed and en- 
joyed the same." 

In presentino- their confession of Faith to 
Francis I of France; 1544, the \Yaldenses in- 
sisted that their belief is "entirely such as 
they have received from hand to hand from 
their ancestors, according as their predeces- 
sors, in all times and in all ages had tano^ht 
them it.'' 

In addressin<^ the Reformers in the six- 
teenth century, they say, '^Our ancestors 
have often recounted to us that we have ex- 
isted from the time of the ajxystles. In all 
matters, nevertheless, we agree with you; 
and, tliinking as you think from the very 
time of the apostles themselves^ we have ever 
been concordant respecting the faith." 

Says the moderator of their Synod, in the 
preface to a new edition of their Confession 
of Faith, A. D. 1819. "This our professed 
faith, we have not received from Waldo of 
Lyons, nor from Luther, nor from Calvin, 
but ^ve have inherited it from the earliest 
times^ from our forefathers, who had received 
it in like manner from their remote ancestors. 



THEIR ANTIQUITY. 39 

In this faith we desire to live and to perse- 
vere to the end." 

Thus we find their own account of the 
matter uniformly has been that their religion 
has descended from father to son by an unin- 
terrupted succession, from the time of 
the Apostles, and I know not by what law 
of evidence their own uniform tradition is to 
be set aside as of no weight. 

It is certainly not because it is very im- 
probable. As one historian well says, "There 
is certainly no improbability in this conject- 
ure, that the gospel was preached to them by 
some of those early missionaries who carried 
Christianity into Gaul. The common pas- 
sage from Rome to Gaul at that time lay di- 
rectly through the Cotian Alps; and Gaul 
we know received the gospel early in tlie 
second century, at the latest, probably before 
the close of the first century. 

"If the apostle Paul ever made that journ- 
ey into Spain which he speaks of in his 
Epistle to the Romans, 15:28, and in w^hich 
he proposed to go by way of Rome, his natu- 
ral route would have been in this same direct- 
ion, and it is not impossible that his voice 



40 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

was actually heard amonor these secluded 
valleys." 

The most common opinion among Protest- 
ant writers is, that the conversion of the 
Waldenses was begun by some early Christ- 
ian missionary, perhaps by some of the 
apostles themselves, on their way to Gaul, 
and that it was completed and the church 
more fully organized by a large influx of 
Christians at the time of the first general 
persecution under Nero. 

As another writer suggests, "The situation 
and physical features of the valleys, favor the 
conjecture that, at a very early period, they 
were penetrated by Christian evangelists, 
and resorted to by persecuted Christians, as 
a retreat in which, secure from merciless foes 
they might enjoy, although in poverty and 
hardships, freedom to worship God. If the 
inhospitable wilds of New England were 
prefered to pleasant homes beyond the 
stormy Atlantic by men in pursuit of relig- 
ious liberty, may we not readily suppose that 
during the bitter persecutions directed in the 
first and second centuries against the Christ- 
ians of Rome and its vicinity, many of the 



THEIR AISTIQUITY. 41 

distressed people of God would gladly flee 
for shelter and religious freedom to the 
mountain fastnesses of Northern Italy? The 
spirit which sustained the early disciples in 
the midst of the inconceivable corrupting in- 
Alienees of Pagan Rome, and caused them to 
brave the lions of the amphitheater, or a liv- 
ino- death in the hideous gloom of the cata- 
combs, rather than deny their Master, was 
certainly strong enough to impell many of 
the Christian brotherhood to abandon Rome 
and the fertile fields of central Italy, and 
-choose in preference the rigors and privation 
of an Alpine home, where, comparatively 
free from molestation, they might "walk 
Avith God." It has been observed, also, that 
access to those regions was not difficult, inas- 
much as one of the great military roads of 
imperial Rome proceeded from the metropo- 
lis in the direction of Turin, and passed at 
no great distance the sheltering valleys." 

If their traditions of the early implantation 
of the gospel in these valleys be rejected it 
cannot be upon the ground of their 
improbability. 



CHAPTER V. 
THiER ANTIQUITY. — Continued. 
,UT still more convincing* testimony to 
the antiquity of the Waldensian 
church is found in the original manuscripts 
which it possesses, some of tliem at least fifty 
years prior to the religious manifestation in 
wtiich Peter Waldo took the lead. 

The general character of these writings is 
doctrinal and practical, a few are controver- 
sial. Althouo-h written durinof a period of 
general darknes, there is nothing of exager- 
ation or superstition in them. The modera- 
tion and propriety of their language, even on 
controverted topics, which are frequently 
touched upon, never leaves them. This is 
the more striking, since these qualities are 
extreemly rare among their adversaries. 

Among the original works of the ancient 
Waldenses is a translation of the Bible into 
the Romance, the Vaudois language. The 
numerous quotations made from it in the 



THEIR ANTIQUITY. 43 

"Noble Lesson," "Antichrist" and other 
treaties of that period are proof of its exist- 
ance. Le^er the historian declares that he 
possessed a copy of it. In the library at 
Cambridore, manuscripts of the books of the 
Bible, or of detached chapters, are deposited 
written in the Waldensian dialect. The date 
of this work is not definitely fixed, but it 
must have been prepared before the eleventh 
century, for almost all their writings after 
that period contain passages from it. 

From their other ancient writings we 
mention "The Noble Lesson," and the "Cat- 
echism" which bear date 1100; the "Treatise 
on Antichrist" and a Confession of Faith, 
which bears date 1120; and the Treatise on 
Purgatory, which bears date 1126. 

I quote a passage from "The Noble Les- 
son," mentioned above. 

"Now after the apostles were certain 

teachers, 
AVho taught the ways of Jesus Christ our 

Saviour. 
And these are found even at the present 

day, 
If any man love those who are good, 



44 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

He must needs love God and Jesus Christ* 
Now such a one is called a Waldensian, 
And worthy to be punished." 

This document bears date 1100, and, pure- 
ly upon literary grounds, it is declared, by 
the most competent authorities to be a pro- 
duction of the age in which it claims to have 
been written. From it we learn that there 
was an orthodox church in these valleys more 
than fifty years before Peter Waldo became 
the leader of a religious movement. At the 
time this "Noble Lesson" was written, as we 
learn from it, the appellation Waldenses was 
in use, and had been so long associated in 
mens' minds with a particular religion, as to 
have lost, in a great measure, its primary 
local sense, and to have been employed as 
expressive of a peculiar religious faith, so 
that to call a man a Waldensian was to inti- 
mate, not so much that he lived in the vallevs 
of the Alps, as that he was an abettor, of 
what popery stigmatized as the Waldensian 
heresy. 

This with other ancient manuscripts which 
have come down to our day w^arrant the con- 
clusion, that long before the days of Peter 



THEiK a:ntiquity. 45 

Waldo there existed a body of Godly men 
and women in the valleys of Piedmont, who 
knew, loved, and professed the truth, not fail- 
ing to display a banner for the cause of the 
truth, and to lift up a standard against the 
enemy which was coming in like a flood. 
We quote again from "The Noble liesson." 

''For 1 dar^ say, and it is very true. 
That all the Popes which have been 
From Sylvester to this present, 
And all the cardinals, bishops, abbots and 

the like. 
Have no power to absolve or pardon, 
It is God alone who pardons, and no other." 

To the testimony of the Waldensian 
writings themselves I will add that of 
Theodore Beza, whose learning none will dis- 
pute, and who enjoved special facilities for 
the investigation of the subject. Says Beza, 
''These are the people who have always pre- 
served the true religion, without allowing 
any temptation to pervert them." In another 
place he writes, "The Vaudois are so called 
from their residence among the valleys and 
fastness of the Alps, and may well be con- 
sidered at the remains of the purest primi- 



46 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

tive Christian church. Nor has it been pos- 
sible to draw them within the pale of the 
Roman communion, notwithstanding the 
horrible persecutions exercised against them. 
At this time they have churches flourishing, 
as well in doctrine as in examples of a truly 
innocent life. I speak particularly of those 
of the Alpine valleys." 

Now the concluding evidence, which I 
shall adduce to establish the existence of the 
Waldenses. as a Christian people separate 
from the papal church, shall be taken from 
their enemies and persecutors. 

The Monk, Belvedere, chief of a mission, 
sent to convert the Waldenses in 1630, in 
his answer to the college of ''Propaganda 
fide" excused himself for not havincr convert- 
ed a single person, because ''th^ valleys of 
Angrogna have alioays and at every period^ 
been inhabited by heretics^ 

Reinerius Sacho, who is said to have been 
an apostate from the Waldensian faith, was 
appointed by the court of Rome, inquisitor 
against the Waldenses. He devoted his life 
to the church of Rome, and put forth the 
most vigorous efforts to bring the people of 



THEIR ANTIQUITY. 47 

the valleys into subjection to the pope. In a 
book whicli he wrote about 1245 against 
heretics he thus speaks, "Among all these 
sects vv^iich still are, or have been, there is 
not one more pernicious to the church than 
that of the Leonists, and this on three ac- 
counts, The first is, because it is of longer 
duration. For some say that it has existed 
from the time of Sylvester; others from the 
time of the apostles. The second because it 
is more general, for there is almost no land 
in Vt'hich this sect is not. The third, because, 
since all other sects, throuo-h their monstrous 
blasphemy against God, strike horror into 
the hearers, this of the Leonists have a great 
appearance of piety, inasmuch as they live 
justly before men, and believe not only all 
the articles of the creed, but every sound 
doctrine respecting the Deity; only they 
speak evil of the Roman church and clergy, 
to which the multitude of the laity are quite 
ready to give credence." This description fits 
precisely the Waldenses, and could not be 
applied to any other known sect. 

The Waldenses sometimes connected their 
religious doctrines and practice with one 



48 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

Leon who opposed the afi^ranclizement of the 
church in the days of Sylvester. By their 
missionary enterprise they had spread them- 
selves abroad over almost every country. 

Their lives v^ere simple and pure, They 
testified, as we have seen in their ''Noble 
Lesson" aorainst the errors of Rome. This- 
is very striking testimony to be borne by an 
enemy, an apostate, and an inquisitor. In 
another place in his book he distinguishes- 
between these persons whom he here calla 
Leonists and the followers of Peter Waldo^ 
x\nd indeed his intimation of their long con- 
tinuance precludes all idea of confounding^ 
them with the followers of the merchant of 
Lyrms. 

But surely the most obstinate opponents- 
of the antiquity of the Waldenses must give 
way before the testimony of Claude Scysel,. 
Archbishop of Turin, who, in a book ao-ainst 
the people of the valleys, uses this language^ 
''The sect of the Vaudois took its origin from 
one Leo, a truly religious man, who, in the- 
time of Constant! ae, prefered living in pov- 
erty, with simplicity of faith, to the reproach 
of accepting a rich benefit with Sylvester.'"' 



THEIR ANTIQUITY. 49 

Mosheim also mentions the Leonists as iden- 
tical with the Waldenses. 

Marco Aurelio Lorenco, is another witness 
from the enemies of this people. He was 
joint lord of the valley of Lucerna, and 
Grand Prior of St, Roc. This ecclesiastic 
was regarded, and employed by the papacy 
as the most effective, and available instru- 
ment for the oppression of the people 
of the valleys, and the extermination 
of their faith. Being ardently desirous to 
overturn from the foundation the claims to a 
high antiquity put forth by the Yaudois 
church, he studied the subject with great 
minuteness, his facilities for doing so being 
unsurpassed. Tha result of his prolonged 
investigations were given to the world in the 
year 1632, in a volumne in which, while he 
breathes inveterate hostility to the Vaudois 
faith, he makes the followinor remarkable 
acknowledgement, ''That no certainty can be 
had of the origin of that sect, but, at least 
that it was not a new sect in the ninth and 
tenth centuries." If such a concession was 
extorted from such a man, the claims of the 
Vaudois church to an ancient standing must 
be of no ordinary strength. 



50 THEIR ANTIQUITY. 

One more testimony and I will end this 
argument. Samuel Casini, a Franciscan 
monk says with positiveness in a work of his, 
*'The errors of the Vaudois consisted in not 
admitting the Roman to be the sacred 
mother church, or obeying her traditions," 
although he could not for his own part, 
''deny that they acknowledged the Christian 
church, and had alv^ays been, and still con- 
tinued to be members of it." 

Thus it is Roman Catholic writers as far 
back as 1250, represent the Vaudois as the 
oldest sect of heretics, as ''soiled by an invet- 
erate heresy." 

It seems scarcely possible, in the face of 
such testimonies, for any one to deny the 
true apostolic succession of the Vaudois 
church. No one can say definitely when 
Christianity was planted in these secluded 
valleys of the Alps. No one can prove that 
these people at any time submitted to the 
Pope as the infallable head of the church. 
No one can show that they ever accepted the 
erroneous doctrines of Rome or folloAved 
her corrupt practices. God still preserved 
Himself a remnant that did not kiss St. 
Peters' great toe, or bow to images. 



CHAPTER YI. 

THEIR DOCTRINE. 

FN doctrine the Waldenses insisted upon 
I the foundation principle that the Word 
of God, independent of every other authori- 
ty is to be recognized as the infallable and 
only rule of faith and practice. Their own 
expressive language as taken from their an- 
cient (yonfession of Faith, is, "We hold in 
abomination human inventions as anti- 
christian, inventions for which ^Ye are dis- 
turbed, and which are prejudicial to liberty 
of spirit." So rigidly did they adhere to this 
principle that they were som.etimes charged, 
bv their Roman Catholic antaoronists, with 
making a Pope of the Bible. And indeed 
the Bible was to them far more than Pope; 
it was the certain revelation of Gods will. 

In the earlier ages, when they were wide- 
ly scattered over the Christian world, there 
was, no doubt, some crudeness in their doc- 
trinal teachings. But their supreme rev- 



52 THEIR DOCTRINE. 

erence for the Bible, and their continual 
study of its pages, led them to a knowledge 
of Christian doctrine, which every day be- 
came purer and more complete, and to a 
testimony against the arrogant claims of the 
j)ope, and the decrees of the Catholic coun- 
cils, which only enraged the papacy the more 
against them. 

A complete and minute parallel between 
the Waldensian doctrines and those of the 
primitive church would detain us too long, 
we must therefore confine ourselves to the 
principle features of their own tenets. 

They hold that the decrees of the Pope and 
councils, and the teaching of the fathers are 
to be followed only so far as they agree with 
the Word of God; that the reading and 
Icnowledge of the Scriptures are equally free 
to both laity and clergy; that baptism and 
the Lords Supper are the only sacraments of 
the New Testament Church; that in the 
Supper both elements are to be received by 
the people as well as by the priest; that the 
bread and wine are signs and symbols of 
Christ's body and blood, that the sacrifice of 
the mass is impious, to say prayers for the 



THEIK DOCTRINE. 53 

dead is downright folly; that Purgatory or 
any middle state of departed souls, is but an 
invention of men; that the invocation of 
saints is idolatory; that the church of Rome is 
the Apocyliptical whore of Babylon ; that the 
pope has no lawful primacy over the Church, 
or any title to both civil and ecclesiastical 
authority; that vows of celibacy are an in- 
vention of men; that monkery is but a stink- 
ing carcass of devotion. In short, they bold- 
ly opposed all the corrupting errors of papal 
Rome. Their submission to and reverence 
for the Word of God as the only rule of faith 
and life, and their general and familliar ac- 
quaintance with the teaching of the Word, 
led them to resist unto blood the encroach- 
ment of Rome's errors and corruptions. And 
that they did protest against the papal in- 
ventions is proved not only from their own 
statements, but from the statements of their 
enemies and persecutors. 

I think I cannot do better than to copy 
the several articles of their ancient Confes- 
sion of Faith, bearing date A. D; 1120. The 
correctness of this date, and also the dates of 
their other ancient manuscripts, is vindicated 



54 THEIR DOCTRINE. 

in Monastiers, History of the Vaudois- 
Church. 

Chapter X. 

Article 1. We believe and firmly hold^ 
all that which is contained in the twelve art- 
icles of the symbols, v^^hich is called the 
Apostles Creed, accounting for heresy what- 
soever is disagreeing and not consonant to 
the said twelve articles. 

Article II. We do believe there is one 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

Article III. We acknowledp*e for the 
Holy Canonical Scriptures, the books of the 
Holy Bible; (here follovvs the list of the 
books of the Old Testament which the Jews 
had received as inspired^ and the books of 
the New Testament as generally received.) 
As to the apocryphal books they say "AYe 
read them for the instruction of the people,, 
but not to confirm the authority of the doc- 
trines of the Church. 

Article IV. The books above said teach 
this: That there is one God, Almighty, All- 
wise, All-goed, who has made all things by 
his goodness, for he formed Adam in His own 
image and likeness; but that, by the envy of 



THEIB DOCTRINE. 55 

the Devil and the disobedience of the said 
Adam, sin has entered into the world, and 
that we are sinners in Adam and by Adam. 

Article V. That Christ w^as promised to 
our fathers who received the law, that so 
knovv'in^ by the law their sin, unrighteousness, 
and insufficiency, they might desire the 
coming of Christ to satisfy for their sins, and 
accomplish the law by himself. 

Article VI. That Christ was born in the 
time appointed by God the Father; that is to 
say, in the time w^hen all iniquity abounded, 
and not for the cause of good works, for all 
were sinners; but that lie might show us 
grace and mercy as being faithful. 

Article VII. That Christ is our life, truth, 
peace, righteousness, as also our Pastor, Ad- 
vocate, and Priest, and who died for the sal- 
vation of all those who believe, and is risen 
for our justification. 

Article VIII. In the like manner we firm- 
ly hold, that there is no other Mediator and 
Advocate with God the Father save Jesus 
Christ; and as for the Virgin Mary^ that she 
was holy, humble, and full of grace; and in 

like manner do we believe of all the Saints, 

4 



56 THEIR DOCTRINE. 

namely, that being in heaven they wait for 
the resurrection of their bodies at the day 
of judgment. 

Article IX. We believe that after thig 
life there are only two places, the one for the 
saved and the other for the damned; tho 
which two places we call Paradise and Hell, 
absolutely denying the Purgatory invented 
by Anti-Christ, and forged contrary to the 
truth . 

Article X. We have always accounted as 
unspeakable abominations before God, all 
those inventions of men, namely, the feasts 
and vigils of saints, the water which they 
call holy, as likewise to abstain from flesh on 
certain days, and the like, but especially the 
masses. 

Article XI. We esteem for an abomin- 
ation and as Anti-Christian, all those human 
inventions which are a trouble or prejudice 
to the liberty of the spirit, and produce 
4istress. 

Articlo XII. We consider the Sacra- 
ments as signs of holy things, as the visible 
emblems of invisible blessings. We regard 
it as proper and necessary that the faithful 



THEIR DOCTRINE. 57 

use the said visible forms when it may be 
done. Notwithstanding which, we believe 
that the said faithful may be saved without 
these si^ns, when they have neither place 
nor opportunity of observing them. 

Article XIII. We acknowledge no other 
Sacraments but Baptism and the- Lords 
Supper. 

Article XIV. We honor the secular 
powers with subjection, obedience, prompti- 
tude and payment. 

Such was their Confession of Faith as 
formulated in the year A. D. 1120. They 
must have possessed it long before this time, 
for it is evidently the result of long contin- 
ued study of the Word of God in contrast 
with the teachings of Rome. Around it they 
rallied and freely poured out their hearts 
blood in its defense. 

Besides this they had a Catechism for the 
young, an Exposition of the Creed, the Lords 
Prayer and the Ten Commandments, all em- 
inently scriptural and devotional. 

In an age when the Bible was unknown 
to bishops, and when priests could not write 
their own name, these poor peasants were in- 



58 THEIR DOCTRINE. v 

timately acquainted with the Word of God, 
and plainly taught its doctrines. 

During the first centuries of their history 
they used for the most part if not exclusively 
the Psalms of that Bible in their worship of 
God. Says Milner "In- those ages when 
darkness covered the earth, and gross dark- 
ness all other people, the Yaudois, as 
Thuanias, their enemy, relates, could all read 
and write." 

They were acquainted with French so far 
as was needful for understanding the Bible, 
and the singing of Psalms. The author of 
^'iVuthentic Details of the Waldenses." once 
and again refers to the singing of Psalms as 
a part of their public worship. A w^riter of 
an article on this ancient people in Harpers 
Monthly says, "The Psalms of David, 
chanted in the plaintive melodies of the 
Vaudois, echoed far above the scenes of ra- 
pine and carnage of the desolate valleys." 
In a letter in the Preacher, Vol. IX, No. 50, 
we find this description of their worship, 
given by a gentleman traveling in Piedmont, 
''At half past ten pastor Bonjour entered his 
w^ell-fiUed Church, and commenced by the 



THEIR DOCTRINE, 



59 



usual invocation, then a portion of the 89th 
Psalm was sung, in which the people joined 
universally, all having Psalm books, with 
music for the whole Psalm. In the morninor 
while the young Vaudois girl of the inn was 
preparing the breakfast table, we asked her 
if Psalms alone, or hymns likewise were sung 
in the churches? She disappeared, and 
brought back in her hand a neat gilt volume 
in a small leather case, and with the honest 
pride which accompanies any allusions or 
explanations connected wath their worship, 
said, we should find there the Psalms of 
David, with the music^ and that they used no 
other." 

Their attachment to this part of the Word 
of God was very striking. Milner says, '""It 
was required of those who were to be or- 
dained to the ministry, alono- with other 
Scriptures to commit to memory the v/ritings 
of David" referrinor to the book of Psalms. 

Singing Psalms w^as not only a part of 
their worship, but also their recreation from 
labor and their solace at work. The women 
carrying their milk from the pasturage, and 
the laborer in the fields, the shepherd on the 



60 THEIR DOCTRINE. 

mountain side, and the mechanic in his work- 
shop, cheered themselves by singing the 
Psalms of David. They committed them to 
memory in French, and sang them without 
book, and were so noted for Psalm-singing 
that for any one to be found singing Psalms 
was taken for good proof that he was a 
Vaudois. Upon their return to their native 
valleys under Henry Arnaud, after the battle 
of Salabetrand, 'Hhey had the infinite satis- 
faction of findinor their church at Prali stand- 
ee 

ing. They removed everything that savored 
of Romish idolatry, and sung the 74th and 
129th Psalms. ^ "^ ^ ^ It is here worthy 
of remark, that God permitted that the first 
service heard by the Vaudois, on their return 
to their valleys, should be performed in that 
temple of which Monsier Lidet was minister, 
who, for singing psalms under a rock, and 
preaching publicly the true faith, lost his life 
on a gibbet." This quotation is from "Authen- 
tic Details," P. 318. And to this day it is 
said that the valleys of the Vaudois echo 
these songs of Zion in the ear of the traveler. 
At present like many of the Protestant 
churches, they do not adhere exclusively to 



THEIR DOCTRINE. 61 

the inspired hymns of the Bible, but make 
use also of hymns of human composition. 

The papists have charged them with deny- 
ing infant baptism, and anti- paedo-baptists 
claim ihat they never administered this or- 
dinance but to adults. But their own writ- 
ings from the 11th century onward disprove 
this position. They undoubtedly held the 
doctrine of infant baptism and practiced it 
accordingly. 

"Baptism" they say, "is administered in a 
full congregation of the faithful, to the end 
that he that is received into the church may 
be reputed and held of all as a Christian 
brother, and that all the congregation may 
pray for him that he may be a Christian in 
heart, as he is outwardly esteemed to be a 
Christian. Andj^or this cause v:e present our 
children in baptism^ which ought to be done 
by those to whom the children are most 
nearly related, such as their parents, or those 
to whom God has given this charge," 

Referring to the superstitious additions to 
baptism which the papists had introduced, 
they say in one of their ecclesiastical docu- 
ments, "The things which are not necessar 



62 THEIR DOCTRINE. 

in baptism are, the exorcisms, the breathings, 
the sign of the cross upon the head or fore- 
head of the infant etc." 

It is true, in the times of persecution this 
ordinance of baptism was not administered 
to their children with any great degree of 
regularity. This fact is explained by one of 
their historians thus, "Being for some hun- 
dreds of years, constrained to suffer their 
children to be baptized by the Romish 
priests, they defered the performance of it as 
long as possible, because they detested the 
human inventions annexed to the institution 
of that holy sacrament, which they looked 
upon as so many polutions of it. And by 
reason of their pastors, whom they called 
Barbes, beino- often abroad travelingr in the 
service of the church, they could not have 
baptism administered by them. They, there- 
fore, sometimes kept them long without it. 
On account of which delay, the priests have 
charged them vv^ith that reproach. To which 
charge not only their adversaries have given 
credit, but also many of those who have ap- 
proved of their lives and faith in all other 
respects." \ 

Page 12 X See John Paul Perrins account of the Doctrines 
and Order of the Waldenses and Albigenses. Sir Samuel 
Morelands, do: and also Legers History. 



THEIR DOCTRIXE. 63 

As to the claims of anti-paedo-baptists, 
Miller, on Infant Baptism, has this to say, 
'tA small section of the people bearing the 
general name of Waldenses, followers of 
Peter de Brnis, while they agreed with the 
mass of this denomination in other matters, 
differed from them in regard to the snbject 
of baptism. They held that infants were not 
capable of salvation; that Christian salvation 
is of such a nature that none can partake of 
it but those who undergo a course of rigorous 
self-denial and labor in its pursuit. Those 
who die in infancy not being capable of this, 
the Petrobrusians held that thev w^ere not 
capable of Christian salvation; and, this 
being the case, that they ought not to be 
baptized. ^ -^f -k- ^ ^^^^ ^\^q Petrobrus- 
ians were a very small fraction of the oTcat 
Waidensian body; probably not one thirtieth 
of the v»4iole." This practice of the Petro- 
brusians accounts for the claim that the Wal- 
denses refused to administer baptism to in- 
fants. But the doctrine held by this frag- 
ment of the Waidensian body is not the doc- 
trine of the anti-p^do baptist of our day. 

And if it was their doctrine it would not 



64 TUEIR DOCTRINE. 

be a proper statement of the case to claim 
the practice of this small portion for the 
whole body, in the face of their present 
practice and ancient documents. As Miller 
says, ''The real state of the case may be il- 
lustrated thus. Suppose it were alleged that 
the Baptists in the United States are in the 
habit of keeping the seventh day of the week 
as their Sabbath; Would the statement be 
true? By no means. There is, indeed, a 
small portion of the anti-paedo-baptist body 
in the United States, usually styled the 
"Seven day Baptists," probably not a thirti- 
eth part of the whole body, who observe 
Saturday of each week as the Sabbath. But 
notwithstanding this, the proper representa- 
tion, no doubt is, that the Baptists of this 
country keep the Lords day as the Sabbath.'* 
We learn from "Authentic Details" "^' that 
their mode of baptism was sprinkling. "In 
the holy sacraments the bread was, until 
1630 broken into three parts, and the water 
thrice sprinkled in baptism, in remembrance 
of the Trinity." ^ Since that time this 
peculiar practice of breaking the bread three 

* Authentic Details, page 136. 



THEIR DOCTRINE. 65 

times, and sprinkling three times has been 
abandoned. 

Such is a brief outline of the doctrines of 
the Waldensian church, as expressed in their 
own Confession of Faith, and gathered from 
the statements of their own historians. It is 
far from being a complete system of doc- 
trine, but as far as it goes it is a pure system, 
as far as it is given to human weakness to 
express it. It is what we would expect as 
flowing from the Word of God received with 

a humble and submissive heart and faithfully 
studied. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THEIR LIFE. 

THE life declares what the controlling 
principles are, and determines their 
character. As the Saviour has said '^Ye shall 
know them by their fruits. Do men gather 
grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so 
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, 
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit 
is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Where- 
fore by their fruits ye shall know them." 

It is not enough that a man or a church 
hold the true doctrine, but the true doctrine 
must be allowed to shape and control the life. 
"Not every one that saith unto me Lord, 
Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God, 
but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." Professing Christians 
ought ever to bear in mind that the religion 
of Christ is a life, and not merely a profession 
of faith, not merely the acceptance of an 



THEIR LIFE. 67 

orthodox creed. It is true the Savior, in 
answer to the question, "What must we do 
that we might work the. works of God? re- 
plied, "This is the work of God that ye be- 
lieve on Him whom he hath sent." But it is 
evident that He speaks of faith here not 
merely as an act of assent to His claims, but 
as a principle of action, as a power that lays 
hold upon the heart, out of which are the 
issues of life, and moulds and controls those 
issues. It is the controling faith that will 
condemn or acquit a man at Gods judo-ment 
bar. And it is the faith that controls the 
life of the church that determines the true 
nature of the doctrines which she professes. 
The life tests the character of the doctrines. 
If the life is a Christ-like life we know at 
once that the man is under the influence of 
Christs doctrines. This test applied to the 
Vaudois churcji plainly shows them to be 
under the influence of true Christian doctrine. 
One of the distinguishing characteristics 
of this ancient Christian people was their fa- 
miliarity with the Bible. Their barbes or 
pastors were required to commit to memory 
the whole of the Gospels, a good part of the 



68 



THEIR LIFE. 



writings of David and Solomon, and the 
prophets. 

Bat this familliar acquaintance with the 
Bible was not limited to the "barbes," every 
class of the people made it their daily study. 
The laborious rustic, the humble artisan, the 
mountain cowherd, the mother of the family, 
the young girl watching the • cattle, and 
working the while with her spindle, studied 
the Bible attentively and conscientiously. 
The inquisitor Rainier, reports that some of 
the common people could repeat the whole 
of the book of Job, and many of the psalms. 
The same author puts into the mouth of a 
Vaudois missionary the following words: 
*'Among us, it is an unusual thing if a 
woman cannot repeat, as well as a man, the 
whole of the text in the vulgar tongue," "A 
great knowledge of the Scripture distin- 
guished men and women among them" says 
Neander. They obeyed the apostles in- 
junction to'- let the word of Christ dwell in 
them richly." 

Such a general acquaintaince with the 
Word of God marks ofE a peculiar people, 
which in all probability will be "zealous of 



THEIR LIFE. 69 

good works." In point of intelligence it 
placed them in striking contrast with their 
papal neighbors, to whom the Word of God 
was a forbidden book, and many of whose 
priests could not read a word from the sac- 
red volamn. And while this characteristic 
marks them off as peculiar it at the same 
time indicates a people of a deeply reflective 
and religious character. It is a peculiarity 
which Christians of our own day would do 
well to emulate. With all of our modern 
helps for the study of the Bible it is to be 
feared that our people are not as well read in 
the Bible itself, as they ought to be, or as 
well as these primitive Christians were. 

And from the testimony of their enemies, 
it is evident that this Word of God was the 
rule of their practice as well as of their faith. 
They dressed by this rule. The inquisitor, 
Rainier, in his book against the Valdenses, 
bears this testimony, ''The heretics may be 
known by their manners and their language; 
for they are well ordered and modest in their 
manners; tliey avoid pride in their dress^ the 
materials of v^hich are neither expeyisive or 
meany It is evident that they undersood 



70 THEIR LIFE. 

the Bible to claim the prerogativa to govern 
in the matter of dress. When Paul taught 
that whether we eat or drink or whatsoever 
we do, we should do all to the glory of God, 
they understood that they were to dress to 
Gods glory. They therefore, in accordance 
with the Divine direction ''adorned them- 
selves in modest apparel," ''not with broid- 
ered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array" 
Their adorning was "in that which is incor- 
ruptable, even the ornament of a meek and 
quiet spirit, which in the sight of God, is of 
great price." 

It will be a grand day for the cause of 
Christ when Christians return to that simpli- 
city in dress recommended by the Word of 
God. It is a difficult subject upon which to 
lay down a rule, but those who earnestly de- 
sire to be guided by Gods Word and Spirit 
will be able to avoid the two extremes of 
shabbiness and extravagance, and will be apt 
to dress in such a way as to hush the foolish 
silly, idle talk about dress which now almost 
entirely absorbs the time and converse of 
many. 



THEIR LIFE. 71 

''Tis not the casket that we prize, 
But that which in the casket lies. 
These outward charms that please the 

sight, 
Are naught unless the heart is right." 
They had learned also from the Word to 
"be dilligent in business." An idler was 
not tolerated among them. Says one of their 
persecutors. "They labor constantly." Says 
another in describing the Vaudois, "They 
never eat the bread of idleness, but labor 
with their own hands for their livelihood." 

They were chaste in their conduct. Says 
Claude DeSycel "For their lives and moral 
behavior, the Yaudois are without reproach 
before men, and do their utmost endeavors 
to keep the commandments of God." Thuan- 
as writes "They are such scrupulous observ- 
ers of honor and chastity, that their neigh- 
bors, though of a contrary faith, intrusted 
them with the care of their wives and dauofh- 
ters, to preserve them from the insolence of 
the soldiery." This occurred in 1560 when 
the Catholic troops were quartered at LaTour, 
and the Waldenses had retired to the mount- 
ains. Their Catholic neii^hbors sent their 



72 THEIR LIFE. 

wives and daucrhters to the mountains with 
the Valdenses that their chastity might not 
be violated by the brutal soldiers. 

''This admirable purity is still respected in 
the valleys," says the writer of Authentic De- 
tails, '"and, notwithstanding the corruption 
of the age, we must look through a long se- 
ries of years to find one of the females who 
have not observed it." In their ancient 
book of discipline they prohibit dancing as 
an impure amusement. I will give their tes- 
timony in their own quaint and expressive 
language. "x\ dance is the devils procession, 
and he that entereth in to the dance entereth 
into his procession. The devil is the guide, 
the middle, the end of the dance. They that 
deck their daughters for the dance, are like 
those that heap on dry wood on the fire to 
make it burn well." It is not strange when 
they were so careful about their amusements 
that they maintained such marked chastity of 
character. 

They were noted for their temperance, 
takin^?- the word in its broadest sense. I 
quote from Rainier their inquisitor, a rabid 
Catholic, who bent his powers to the utmost 



THEIR LIFE. 73 

to destroy them. In describing their man- 
ners be says, '^They were temperate in eatincr 
and drinking. ^''^ ''^' "^ They are on their 
guard against the indulgence of anger. ^ ''^ "^ 
They may be known also by their concise and 
modest discourse; they guard against indulg- 
ing in jesting, shmder or profanity.'^ With 
reference to profanity, it was of the rarest oc- 
currence. Their reverence for God's nanies, 
titles, ordinances, Word and v^^orks was such 
that the third commandment was scarcely 
ever broken. Their ow^n historian Leger, 
writes ''There are also ordinances against 
blasphemy and swearing; but during the 
twenty three vears I have been minister, and 
twelve moderator, no one instance of the 
kind has ever occurred; and I am convinced 
in a whole century here one should not hear 
the name of God tbken in vain." 

With reference to their use of intoxicating 
liquors as a beverage Rainier says ''They do 
nut frequent taverns or dances, and are not 
addicted to other vanities." I cannot refrain 
from quoting again from their own book of 
Discipline on this subject. "A tavern is the 
fountain of sin, the school of the devil, it 



74 THEIR LIFE. 

works wonders befitting the place. It is in 
the manner of God to show his power in the 
church, and to work miracles there — that is to 
say, to give sight to the blind, to make the 
lame to go, the dumb to speak, the deaf to 
hear; but the devil doth quite contrary to this 
in a tavern, he goeth in uprightly, but when 
he Cometh forth he cannot go at all, and he 
hath lost his sight, his hearing and his speech. 
The lectures that are read in this school of 
the devil are gluttonies, oaths, perjury, lying, 
and blasphemies, and various other villainies. 
For in a tavern are quarrels, slanders, con- 
tentions, murders; and tavern-keeoers that 
suffer them are partakers of their sin and 
that wickedness they commit." The above 
quotation is interesting as showing the posi- 
tion which the true church of Christ held 
upon the temperance question eight hundred 
years ago. It helps us to measure our pro- 
gress back to primitive times. Under the 
constant pressure of temperance work for the 
past fifty years, the Prostetant Church of 
America has reached a little higher point in 
her testimony against this iramense social 
and political evil. But in some of the fath- 



THEIR LIFE. 75 

er lands of the church this Waldensian testi- 
mony might well put the church to shame. 

They recognized and submitted to the au- 
thority of the secular powers. In the 
language of their own Confession of Faith 
Article XIV. "We honor the secular pow- 
ers with subjection, obedience, prompti- 
tude, and payment." And to this article 
they were faithful. They were in subjection 
to the powers that were oyer them. They 
recognized the civil power as an ordinance of 
God, and they never resisted that ordinance 
at any time only when their religious faith, 
and freedom to worship God according to the 
dictates of their own conscience, as enlight- 
ened by the Word of God was interfered with 
and then they resisted unto the death. Ac- 
cording to the testimony of some of their own 
sovereigns they w^ere the best of citizens. 
In no case were they ever charged with show^- 
ing disrespect to the reigning sovereign, or 
manifesting a spirit of insubordination save 
only in matters pertaining to their faith and 
conscience. When an order came from the 
French government in 1592 to the governor 
of Salucis to destroy all the Waldenses of 



70, THEIR LIFE. 

that place, it drew forth this testimony from 
one of the council of that town. "That his 
majesty must assuredly have been misin- 
formed as to these poor people, who were 
^ood men, and did him honorable and faithful 
service, living peaceable with their neighbors, 
with whom indeed there was no fault to find, 
except their religion." But this indeed was 
their great crime, they professed and practiced 
a religion that made them good people and, 
haters of all evil; and because of this tliey 
were destroyed. 

Such in brief is tlie testimony of their own 
bitter and unrelenting enemies to the purity 
and nobility of their practical life. 

They endeavored to regulate it minutely 
by the rules of the gospel of Christ. To 
them the Bible was a practical book, many 
seem to look upon it as purely theoretical, 
and setting forth theories which are either 
impossible, or were not designed to be put in 
practice. But the Waldenses regarded it 
as a rule of life, and they were a peculiar 
people indeed in contrast with the votaries of 
IlomxC or the non-Christian world. 

And in any ao-o the individual or the 



THEIR LIFE. 77 

Church that makes the Bible the practical 
rule of life in every particular and relation 
will be marked off as peculiar. In our day 
the line of demarkation between the Church 
and the world is not as it was in the primi- 
tive times, or in the days when the Walden- 
ses constituted the only true visible Church. 
Is it because Satan's kingdom has made such 
rapid strides in the way of reform ? Has 
Satan indeed caught the spirit of reform, and 
is he moulding his kingdom so closely after the 
pattern of Christ's Church that we can scarcely 
distinguish between them ? Or has the 
Church ceased to administer her government 
and regulate her life by the Divine Rule ? 
Is the Church, in the very midst of her noisy 
reforms, silently and steadily lowering her 
principles toward the world's standard? 



CHAPTER YIII. 

FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 

If it is true, as history seems clearly to in- 
dicate, and as many scholarly men admit, 
that the Waldensian church was the deposi- 
tory of the truth during the dark ages, and 
that from their never-extinguished lamp, the 
light of the gospel, at length, spread over 
Europe, they have surely no small claim on 
our veneration and regard; and among other 
questions, that of their church policy cannot 
be least in interest and importance. 

If in their doctrines and life, they ''-account- 
ed as an unspeakable abomination before God 
all those inventions of men,'' and were guided 
exclusively by the word of God, we might 
reasonably expect to find them appealing to 
the same guide in their administration of 
church government. And so we learn from 



FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 79 

their history that on the matter of govern- 
ment and discipline they remained true to 
their principles, and did not follow the tra- 
ditions of men, but endeavored to follow 
their Divine Guide Book. As nearly as 
they could they attempted to follow the 
Apostolic Model in their church ortran- 
ization and administration. And while the 
Church exists now under various forms of 
government, each claiming to be the most 
scriptural, the question as to the polity 
pursued bv these primitive Christians cannot 
be without interest. It is true their custom, 
whatever it may have been does not authori- 
tatively decide this momentous question; but 
their opinions as expressed by their custom, 
it must be allowed, has considerable weight. 
What, then, was their mode of conducting 
the government and discipline of the church? 
That they were and continue to be Presby- 
terian we. believe to be the truth in the case. 
That is we believe from their own records, 
and from representations of their enemies, 
that they always maintained ministerial pari- 
ty; the government of the church by elders, 
of which the minister was equal in rank and 



80 FOKM OF CHURCH GOVERN.AIENT. 

authority with the others, and not higher; the 
union of congregations under courts of re- 
view and control. 

Their ecclesiastical system is now undoubt- 
edly Presbyterian. "Their discipline" says 
Dr. Gilly, ''is now Presbyterian, very much 
resembling that of the church of Scotland." 
They are admitted into the Pan Presbyterian 
Council as a Presbyterian body. 

But was this their primitive form of gov- 
ernment? If not, when was it introduced 
into the valleys of the Waldenses? Dr. 
Gilly, himself an Episcopalian, intimates 
that Presbyterianism was thrust upon them 
in 1630. In that year all of the Vaudois 
pastors, with but two exceptions, were re- 
moved by the plague which devastated the 
valleys; recourse was had to Geneva and 
France for a supply of preachers, and those 
who were sent being Presbyterians, they 
brought with them and established in Pied- 
mont that form of church polity which now 
prevails. 

But this supposition wants proof. The 
wish must have been father to the thought. 
It is clear that if Presbyterianism was intro- 



FORM OF CHUKCH GOVERNMENT. 81 

duced into the valleys from any other source 
than the Word of God, it mnst have been 
lono" prior to 1630. Leger, one of the histo- 
rians of the AValdenses, who himself was a 
pastor in the valleys nearly twenty-four 
years, durin^^ twelve of which he acted as 
Moderator of Synod, speaks of the supply of 
ministers from France and Geneva in 1680. 
And he states that in consequence of this 
influx of foreign ministers, several changes, 
which he carefully enumerates, took place in 
the Vaudois church. Among these changes 
was the substitution of the French lanofua^fe 
instead of the Italian in preaching, the 
abandonment of the practice or trine asper- 
sion in baptism, and of the trine fraction in 
the Lord's Supper; the giving up of the use 
of unleavened bread in that ordinance, and 
some others. Among these changes, it is not 
hinted that any change took place in the 
government of the church. It is true, he 
says other changes of less importance, than 
those he mentions took place, but it is clear 
that he could not include in these so import- 
ant a one as the change from an Episcopal 
form of Government to a Preshvterian form. 



R'?. 



FORM OF Cniir.CTI GOVERNMENT. 



At the time this change is supposed to have 
taken place Legf-er was pursuing his studies 
at Geneva and therefore could not have been 
ignorant concerning it. If Presbyterianism 
was not their original form of government 
we ask again when was it thrust upon them? 

Aeneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius IT, 
says, ''They" (the Waldenses) "deny the 
hierarchy; maintaining that there is no differ- 
ence among the priests, by reason of dignity 
or office." Medina, a learned prelatist in 
the council of Trent, asserted that the Wal- 
denses agreed, in company with many of the 
fathers, with Arius, who rejected episco- 
pacy. Belarmine acknowledges that the 
Waldenses denied the dvine rio-ht of Pre- 
lacy. 

We learn the same facts concerning them 
from tlieir persecutors. Rinerius says that 
their contempt of ecclesiastical power was 
their firRt heresy, which under the influence of 
Satan, precipitated them into innumerable 
errors. '^* ''^ '"^ '^'^ Thev despise all ec- 
clasiastical customs which are not read in the 
gos})e]; such as Candlemas, Palm Sunday, 
the reconcilement of penitents, the adoration 



FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 83 

of the Cross on Good Friday, the feast of 
Easter, and the festivals of Christmas and 
the saints." Leger says their "pastors as- 
sumed with equal readiness, the name of 
priests, of pastors, of barbs, and even of 
bishops." If these representations are true 
they were as far removed from any form of 
prelacy as could well be imagined. 

If we take up their book or tract entitled, 
" The Ancient Discipline of the Evangelical 
Church of the Valleys of Piedmont," v/hich 
belongs to the early part of the twelfth cen- 
tury, we get quite a clear insight into their 
church polity. At the risk of being tedious 
I will transfer to these pages such portions 
of this ancient document as seems to bear 
upon this subject. Tn article II, of this dis- 
cipline it is said concerning pastors "all those 
who are to be received as pastors among us, 
vvhilo they remain with their relations, they 
entreat us to receive them into the ministrv, 
and afterwards, having good testimonials, 
they are, by the imposition of hands, admit- 
ted to the office of preaching. He that is 
last received ouofht to do nothinof without 
the license of him that was received before 



84 FOIIM OF CHUliCII govekjnment. 

him; and in like manner the former ought to 
do nothino- without the license of his asso- 
ciates to the end that all things among us 
may be done in good order. "^ ^ ^ ^ 
Among other powers which God has given to 
his servants, he hath given them authority to 
elect the leaders who govern the people, and 
to constitute tlie elders in their charges, ac- 
cording to the diversity of the work in the 
unity of Christ, according to the apostle in 
the Epistle of Titus in chapter I: "For this 
cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst 
set in order the things that are wanting, and 
ordain elders in every city, as I had appoint- 
ed thee." 

"When any of us, the aforesaid pastors, 
fall into any gross sin, he is both excommuni- 
cated and prohibited from preaching." 

In article lY, it is said, "We that are pas- 
tors assemble once a year, to treat of our af- 
fairs in a creneral council." This p-eneral 
council was composed of all the ministers 
and two elders from each parish. Ackiand, 
an Episcopalian, says of this council, "The 
Synod, presided over by the Moderator, has 
abrays possessed the chief authority in the 



FORM OF CHUliCH GOVERNMENT. 85 

Waldensian church. It was composed, as at 
present, of all the pastors and a portion of 
elders deputed by the people." 

I will add a few lines from their "Noble 
Lesson" as to the ordinary duties of the pas- 
tor. "But this ought they do who are pastors. 
They on^-ht to preach to the people and pray 
with them, and feed them often with divine 
doctrine." And in tliis treatise the pastor is 
presented as the substitute, in the Vaudois 
church, for the cardinals, bishop and abbots of 
papacy. Surely if the Vaudois had possessed 
any ecclesiastical offices of a hicrher order 
than the preachint^ presbyter, care would 
have been taken in some of these documents 
to have g-iven him a little preeminence. 

It is abundantly evident, then, that the 
Waldensians never submitted to, nor adopt- 
ed the Catholic form of the Episcopacy. 
And it is just as evident so far as these rec- 
ords (TO that they were just as far removed 
from any known form of the Episcopate. 
And it is no less evident from their whole 
history, and especially from these ancient 
ecclesiastical documents that thev were not 
independents, or Con<^regationalists. 



86 FOKM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 

From the foregoing statements taken from 
their enemies, from their own historians, and 
from their own ancient church documents we 
condense the following points : 

(1.) All their pastors were of equal of- 
ficial authority. 

(2.) Ruling elders, in authority with the 
pastors, and elected by the congregations, 
were united with the pastors in the govern- 
ment of the church. 

(3.) The Synod was composed of all the 
pastors together with one or more elders from 
each conorreeration. 

(4.) No one was admited to office of the 
ministry except by an approving vote of the 
Presbytery or Synod, and when so approved, 
he v*'as set apart to that office by the imposi- 
tion of hands. This act it appears was per- 
formed by the Moderator as the agent or or- 
ffan of the constituted court. 

(5.) This court possesed the power of 
deposing any of its members from their office 
ur)on conviction of gross sin. 

(8.) The Moderator of Synod seems to 
have been chosen for life, or for some con- 
Blderable term of years, but this is in no v/ay 



FORM OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 87 

discordant with Presbyterian principle, al- 
though it is out" of harmony with the general 
Presbyterian usage of our day. 

We conclude therefore that in all essential 
particulars the Walden.sian Church was, as it 
is now, Presbyterian in cburch government 
and discipline. And they themselves claim 
that there has never been any radical change 
in their leading principles or constitution. 

It is not for the writer of these unpreten- 
tious pages to enter upon the discussion of 
the merits of the question concerning church 
government, but simply to record the facts as 
nearly as he can arrive at them, with refer- 
ence to the ancient church of the valleys. 
And this he has attempted to do with con- 
scientious care, feeling assured thctt the ques- 
tion of church polity rests not upon the 
authority of the Waldenses, notwithstanding 
their venerable antiquity, but upon the au- 
thority of the King and Head of the Church. 
''To the law," then, "and to the testimony." 
By this standard we should desire to have our 
principles tried and our life and conduct reg- 
ulated. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISK, 

^NE of the most interesting features of 
this ancient church was its missionary 
zeal. In this respect they very much resem- 
ble the Apostolic Christians, who, the more 
they were persecuted, and the greater the 
dangers, the more did thej^ consecrate them- 
selves to the work of disseminating the pur*» 
gospel of Christ. Like thft followers of 
Christ at the time of the first persecution in 
Jerusalem, before the death of the Apostles, 
"they went everywhere preaching the gos- 
pel.'*' 

As one of their own historians declares, 
"with a deep sense of the blessedness of 
knowing and s< rving God, according to the 
pure gospel of Jesus Christ, the more that 
the adjacent countries were continually sink- 



EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. OU 

in^ lower into the errors and superstitions of 
Rome, the Vaudois church was sensible of 
the duty that resulted from her position and 
her obligation to her supreme Head. She 
was aware that if she had received and pre- 
served the faith bv the reading and preach- 
ing of the Word of life, she was also bound, 
in gratitude to the Saviour, and from love to 
her brethren who were plunged in error, to 
make known to them the gospel which "is 
the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believeth." That is, this church rec- 
Qornized the command which the Saviour ad- 
dressed to the Apostles at the time of His as- 
cension, as addressed to herself: "Go into all 
the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature." 

For this purpose the people contributed 
frequently and liberally, and the elders car- 
ried their contributions to the Synod or gen- 
eral council, and it was there distributed. In 
article JV, of their ancient Discipline, con- 
cerning elders we read: "The money which 
is given by the people^ is by us carried to the 
aforesaid general council, and afterwards 
the same is taken and distributed bv our 



90 EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

stewards; part of the money being given to 
such as are sent upon journeys for the occa- 
sion, and part of it given to the poor." 

The fifteen parishes of the valleys, had 
many more missionaries in the field than they 
had employed at home. Their little church 
was verily a ' Lux locet in tenehris!!'' a light 
shining in the darkness. They did not put 
their light under a bushel, but upon a can- 
dlestick, and its beams, though sometimes 
flickering and ahnost quenched, finally pre- 
vailed to in some measure dispell the dark- 
ness. 

Walter Maps relates that ''In the year 
1179, two teachers of the Waldenses, clad 
in garments of coarse gray woolen cloth, 
and bare-footed, appeared in Rome. They 
presented the Lord Pope, a book written in 
the French tono-ue, wherein were contained 
text and gloss of the Psalter, and likewise 
many books of both laws, and with much 
urgencY demanded that the liberty of preach- 
ing might be confirmed to them." It seems 
that the Pope did not interfere with them at 
that time, but that their demand was granted. 

Indeed durino* what are called the dark 



EARLY MISSIOjS^ARY ENTERPRISE. 91 

ages, it seems that all the faithful members 
of this church regfarded themselves as mis- 
sionaries. They did not, it is true, without 
the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, 
assume the duties of ordained ministers, but 
they felt that they were divinely commission- 
ed to preach the gospel. In the same text 
where they read "And the Spirit and the 
bride say, Come," they read also "And let 
him that heareth say. Come;" and they acted 
under this commission. Bernard, of Foncald, 
a Roman Catholic author of the twelfth cen- 
tury, speaking of the members of the Wal- 
densian church that were scattered through 
France, says: "They all preach here and 
there, without distinction of age or sex, and 
maintain that every one who knows the Word 
of God ought to spread it among the peo- 
ple and preach it." Says an anonymous 
writer of the following century: "They em- 
ploy all their zeal in drawing numbers with 
them into error. They teach very young 
girls the Gospel and the Epistles, that they 
may be habituated to embrace error from 
their infancy; and when they have learned a 
little in these books they use their utmost ef- 



92 EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

forts to teach others, wherever they may hap- 
pen to be, if they consent to hear them 
favorably.^' 

But it is evident from the passage which 
I have quoted from their ancient Discipline, 
that beside this general missionary work, 
they had a regularly organized work under 
the special control of their Synod. And we 
learn that one of the duties of the Synod was 
to examine and admit the students who were 
eligxble for the sacred ministry, and appoint 
those who were to go out as missionaries. 
These were sent out two and two; ''one, who 
was more familiar with the places, roads, 
persons, and affairs, and the other belonging 
to the newly chosen, in order that he might 
acquire practical knowledge." 

Their principal training for the ministry, 
either at home or in the missionary field, was 
the study of the Bible itself. This was 
almost their only text book in the earliest 
ages. They had no Marckie Medulla, or 
Ridgly, or Anderson, or Dick, or Hodge. It 
was in the almost inaccessible solitude of the 
Pra-del Tor that their theological school 
was located. There those preparing to be 



EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 93 

ministers of the Word committed to memory 
the gospel of Mathew and John, the Catholic 
epistles, and a portion of Paul's writings, to- 
gether with other portions of the Word. 
They were instructed also in Latin, Italian 
and the Romance or old French languages. 
And when they had passed their examina- 
tion before the Synod and had been set apart 
by the imposition of hands and prayer, they 
were accounted reofular ministers of Christ's 
gospel. 

Says one historian: "Whilst in the monas- 
teries and theological schools of all Europe, 
the Bible was a forbidden book, and almost 
unknown, the simple minded young dales- 
men of Pra-del-Tor, prepared themselves for 
the work of the ministry by laying up in the 
memory large portions of the Word of God." 

In our day we have not too much systematic 
theology, but we have not enough, perhaps, 
of the old time familiarity with the Word of 
God itself. It is the Word which is the 
sword of the Spirit. The Saviour in His con- 
test with the Devil in the wilderness gives us 
a fine illustration of the utility of a familiar 
acquaintance with the very language ot Scrip- 



94 EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

ture. Often times the enemy will cut us to 
pieces if we are compelled to whet our sword 
before we can use it, or if we let it rust in 
the scabbard, and cannot without difficulty 
draw it forth. The instructions in our Theo- 
loo-ical Seminaries would not be less efficient 

o 

if more time was given to what we may call 
the study of the naked Word. 

Equiped with this sword of the Spirit, 
brio-ht and burnished, and clad indeed in the 
whole ai-mor of God, the missionaries of the 
Waldensian church went forth as sheep 
amonor wolves. The surveillance of the 
Roman Catholic spies and inquisitors soon 
tauo-ht them the necessity of being ''wise as- 
serpents and harmless as doves." But not- 
withstanding the labor and peril of this mis- 
sionary work, we are told, that "those who 
were fitted for the service readily undertook 
it, because it was for the honor of God and 
the salvation of man." It seems that the- 
authority of their higher court was so much 
respected that those who were appointed to a 
certain work by it did not think of refusing 
or declinincT the service. And it will be a 
blessed day for our churches in this land 



EAr.LY MISSIONARY ENTERPEISE. 95 

when Ecclesiastical authority has that respect 
paid to it which is due. Our Home and 
Foreiorn fields of labor will not then be so 
destitute of laborers. 

Often times these early missionaries could 
not with safety carry a copy of the Bible 
with them in their journeys, because if found 
upon their person, it was regarded by the 
papal church 2.^ prima facie evidence of the 
crime of heresy, just as the possession of in- 
struments for counterfeiting the money cur- 
rency of our country is taken as evidence of 
guilt. 

But having it stored away in the treasure 
house of the memory beyond the reach of 
papal rage and fire, they were never found 
without their weapons. Thus in spite of the 
most rigid watchfulness on the part of the 
Pope's spies they were enabled to sow the 
seed of the gospel over a very broad field, so 
that * Bernard says, "These Waldenses, al- 
though condemned by the sovereign pontiff, 
Lucius II, continued to pour forth with dar- 
ing effrontery, far and uncle all over the 
loorld., the poison of their perfidy." 

It is a matter of well attested historical 



96 EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

fact that in the thirteenth, fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries, when gross darkness had 
settled down upon almost all of Europe, they 
had their congregations in Calabria, and in 
every principal city in the southern part of 
Italy, as well as in many places in France, 
Holland, Germany and Bulgaria, and even in 
Philadelphia in Asia Minor. So numerous 
were their stations that it is said their mis- 
sionaries could go from Cologn to Florence 
and stop every night on the journey with 
those of the same faith. 

We have already observed that often times 
this missionary work was conducted with the 
greatest secrecy, in order to preserve them- 
selves and their followers from the fell rage 
of the Catholics. iSeander records that 
many of their missionaries dealt in jewels 
and other ornaments of dress, as a means of 
obtaining access to the families of the great. 
When they had disposed of rings and* trink- 
ets, and had acquainted themselves as they 
could with their surroundings, they would 
say to their purchasers, we have jewels still 
more precious than any you have seen, which 
we would be glad to show you, if you would 



EARLY MISSIONAKY ENTERPRISE. 97 

not betray us to the clergy. And upon re- 
ceiving the promise that they should not be 
betrayed, they would bring forth some por- 
tion of the Word of God and present it to 
their customers, accompanying the gift with 
such explanation and instruction as the cir- 
cumstances would permit. Thus this "pearl 
of great price was introduced into many a 
home, and became precious to many hearts, 
when the self-styled Vicar of Christ with all 
his usurped power was attempting by every 
means to keep the lost world in ignorance of 
the great salvation which it revealed to per- 
ishing sinners. 

John G. Whitier, the Quaker poet, received 
inspiration for one of his most beautiful 
poems from this traffic of the Waldensian 
pedlars. It is entitled "The Vaudois Teach- 
er." We will quote a few stanzas: 

"O Lady fair I have yet a gem 

Which a purer luster flings 

Than the diamond flash of the jeweled crown, 

On the lofty brow of kings; 

A wonderful pearl of exceeding price. 

Whose virtue shall not decay; 

Whose light shall be a spell to thee 

And a blessing on the way. 



98 EAKLY MISSIONARY ENTEIiPKISE. 

The lady glanced at the mirroring steel 

Where her youthf al form was seen. 

Where her eyes shone clear and her dark locks 

waved 
Their clustering pearls between; 
"Bring forth the pearl of exceeding v/orth, 
Thou traveller gray and old, 
And name the price of the precious gem, 
And ray pages shall count thy gold." 

The cloud went off from the pilgrims brow, 
As a small and meager book, 
Unchased with gold or diamond gems 
From his folding robe he took. 
"Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, 
May it prove as such to thee. 
Nay keep thy gold, I ask it not. 
For the Word of God is free," 

Thus thpse ancient and devoted mission- 
aries distributed the pure Word of God, and 
felt amply repaid for all their toil and risk of 
life when they found any who would receive 
it and read it. And their simple, yet power- 
ful application of the Word was blessed to 
the conversion of thousands in those early 
days, and the pure faith of the Apostolic days 
was gradually introduced in the place of the 
false and superstitious faith of l^ome. 

And it is a remarkable fact, in this connec- 
tion, that almost all the men whom God 



EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. \J\y 

raised up in France and other countries to 
propagate the true faith, and combat the 
errors of papal Rom'e, for more than six hun- 
dred years before the Reformation, seem to 
have had more or less to do with the Wal- 
denses; such as Peter Waldo, Peter Bruys, 
Henry, of Lausanne, and Lollard. Says a 
writer in Harper's Monthly, July, 1870: "Lol- 
lard, who led the way to the reforms of Wick- 
lif, was a preacher from the valleys; the Al- 
bigenses of Provence, in the twelfth century 
were the fruit of the Vaudois. Germany and 
Bohemia were reformed by the teachers of 
Piedmont; Huss and Jerome did little more 
than proclaim the Vaudois faith, and Luther 
and Calvin were only the necessary offspring 
of the Apostolic church of the Alps." 
Whether this statement is capable of authen- 
tic proof or not, it is evident that the Wal- 
densian church was preeminently a missionary 
church, and by its missionary efforts it scat- 
tered the seed of the Word broad-cast, '^be- 
side all waters," and thus had much to do in 
preparing the way for the Reformation in the 
time of Luther. Their missionary history 
explains the readiness with which the pure 



100 EARLY MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

doctrines of the Lord were received when Lu- 
ther and those bold men of his day went forth 
proclaiming them to the people. The Refor- 
mation may be regarded as the legitimate 
child of the Yaudois church. 

At the time of the Reformation the church 
of the valleys was comparatively inactive. 
The proscription, intimidation, and bloody 
persecutions of the Catholic power had well 
nigh quenched their light. But when the 
news reached them that God was raising up 
others to boldly withstand and combat the 
errors of Rome, against which they had so 
lon«^ contended, they were fired with a new 
zeal, and their old time missionary spirit re- 
vived, and they received fresh courage for 
the contest with the powers of darkness. 

With such facts before us we may well, 
therefore, 

"Rejoice that human hearts, through scorn. 
Through shame, through death made strong, 
Before the rocks and heaven, have borne 
Witness to God so long." 



CHAPTER X. 

PERSECUTIONS. 

THE ancient territory of the Waldenses 
was formerly far more extensive than 
their present limits, which are marked with 
some definiteness in this little volumn. At 
one time they occupied similar mountain val- 
leys on the other side of the Alps — valleys of 
Savoy on the North of Provence and Dauph- 
iny in France, and almost all the valley of 
the Po and the plain country lying between 
their present territory and Turin. 

And, as we have learned from the preceed- 
infr chapter, they had by their missionary 
zeal spread themselves throughout all coun- 
tries. They were not everywhere known by 
the same name, but, as I have illustrated in 
chapter I, they were designated by various 
names, derived from their particular leaders. 



102 PERSECUTION. 

from the locality in which they established 
themselves and from which they went forth 
disseminating their doctrines, or from the ma- 
lignancy of their enemies. 

It is not my purpose, nor would the limits 
of this sketch permit, to give a minute his- 
tory of the persecutions of the valleys of 
Piedmont, much less of all the Waldenses of 
other countries. I will limit my account to 
a few of the fearful scenes that were enacted 
within their present boundaries, witnessed by 
the mountains and cliffs which still look down 
upon the present Waldensian churches and 
homes, by the gorges into which these poor 
people were often hurled by their enemies, 
by the clear crystal mountain torrents fed by 
the eternal snows, and by the soil which they 
now cultivate which has often been made to 
drink the blood of their fathers, and more ter- 
rible than all, witnessed by the All-seeing 
eye of God, Himself, who will bring every 
work into judgment. 

With the history of the papal church be- 
fore us, written by the blood of her innocent 
victims, it is not to be supposed that a peo- 
ple of the character of these inhabitants of 



PEKSECUTIONS. 103 

the valleys, so innocent and pure in their 
lives, so strongly attached to the Word of 
God, and so zealous and energetic in dissem- 
inating its pure doctrines, would long escape 
her unhallowed fury. 

If they had not put forth any effort to 
disseminate the truth, but had contented 
themselves in quietly propagating their belief 
among themselves, and bearing an unagres- 
sive testimony against the Church of Rome, 
they would not have been let alone by this 
light-hating child of the devil. And since 
they V70uld persist in carrying the gospel in 
its purity and with its light to those outside 
of their own immediate territory, they became 
the object of the most intense hatred to the 
papal hierarchy. 

Their persistance in preaching the gospel 
soon brought on a general persecution of all 
Apostolic Christians everywhere. A move- 
ment that had become so general, and which 
was so directly opposed to the Romish worship 
could not fail to excite great indignation in 
the bosom of the Pope, the prelate, and the 
clergy. Very soon a cry of wrath and ven- 
gence resounded from the south to the north, 

7 



104 PERSECUTIONS. 

and persecution which had hitherto been 
local, extended to all points. Superstition 
trembled for its altars, its images, its false 
miracles, and its unholy revenues. Ignor- 
ance was offended with evangelical light. 
Wounded pride and avarice anticipated the 
ruin of the credit and revenues of the clergy. 
The motives that animated the idolatrous 
Ephesians in Paul's day inspired the Church 
of Rome, "their craft" was endangered. A 
war of extermination alone could sa.ve the 
Romish establishment from the terrible blow 
with which it was threatened by the efforts 
of the Vaudois for the propagation of pure 
doctrine, and by the example of their self- 
denying lives, their charity, purity and good 
works. The Pope aftd the prelates invoked 
the assistance of the temporal power, and by 
its aid labored to destroy their enemies. 
Thus they proved themselves not to be fol- 
lowers of Christ and His Apostles. 

All the particulars of this work of iniquity 
have not come down to us. The cries of 
many of Rome's victims never reached be- 
yond their prison walls, or the crowd that 
gathered around their funeral pile. The 



PERSECUTIOJSS. 105 

archives of the iniqiiisition contain many a 
terrible secret which will never be known 
until the ^reat day when all secrets shall be 
revealed. But much more has come down to 
us with reference to this one object of Rome's 
hatred to the Waldensian church, than we 
can record on these padres. 

In the earlier ages, from Constantine to 
Hilderbrand, from the third to the eleventh 
century, we may suppose that these inhabi- 
tants of the Alpine fastness were permitted 
to cultivate their valleys in peace. It is 
probable that they escaped persecution for 
the most part, while the rest of the Christian 
world were suffering the terrible jealousy 
and veno-eance of their Pacran enemies. The 
home of the Waldenses was even then a ref- 
fiige for tlieir oppressed and distressed 
brethren of other parts, and for a time they 
escaped the notice of the Romish priesthood. 
The Popes, engaged in their strife for tem- 
poral supremacy over emperors and kings, 
had little time to devote to these humble 
teachers of the valleys. 

But at the dawn of the eleventh century 
the arrogant claims of the Pope had been 



106 PERSECUTIONS. 

generally acceeded to, and the temporal 
sovereigns became the abject and willing 
tools of the papal see, for bringing heretics 
into subjection to Rome. 

And since these people of the valleys 
would not abandon their simple, primitive 
and scriptural faith for the corrupt doctrines 
of the Catholic church, they must soon feel 
the weiglit of Rome's power and vengeance, 
in her efforts to reclaim them from their 
heresy. 

The first decree of persecution specifically 
against the Waldenses, of which we have 
any definite knowledge, and which eminated 
from the Roman clergy, and the imperial 
power, bears date A. D. 1198. Otho IV., 
when he visited Rome in order to be crowned 
by the Pope granted it at the request of the 
bishop of Turin. The following is a part of 
the text of that decree: 

''Otho, by the grace of God august em- 
peror, to his well-beloved and faithful bishop 
of Turin, grace and good will, &c. It is our 
wish that all those who do not proceed in the 
right path, and who strive to extinguish in 
our dominions the lieht of the Catholic 



PERSECUTIOl^S. 107 

faith by their perverse heresy, should be 
punished with imperial severity, and that in 
all parts of the empire they should be sep- 
arated from intercourse with the faithful. 
By the authority of these presents we enjoin 
you, in reference to the Vaudois heretics, and 
all those who sow the tares of falsehood in 
the diocese of Turin, and who attack the 
Catholic faith, teaching any perverse error 
whatever, that you expel them from the whole 
diocese of Turin, supported by the imperial 
authority." 

We have no definite knowledge as to what 
use the bishop of Turin made of the powers 
thus granted to him, but we cannot doubt he 
persecuted those against whom he obtained 
this commission. At that time the Wald- 
enses were very numerous, and occupied 
much of the territory lying between Turin 
and the Alps. And it is possible that those 
inhabiting the interior valleys would escape 
for the most part the papal rage at this 
time. 

In the year 1120 Count Thomas of Savoy 
and the magistrate of Pinerals established an 
ordinance which prohibited every inhabitant 



108 PERSEOUTIONS. 

of that city and its environs from showing* 
any liospitality to tlie Vaudois, either men or 
women. This severe measure shows the 
state of proscription in which the VValdenses 
of the valleys were placed, whenever they 
ventured to leave their homes. 

During these years the persecutions which 
reached the inhabitants of the valleys, v^ere 
for the most part of the nature of vexations, 
and oppressions, individual arrests and im- 
prisonments. This was often the fate of 
their pastors, or barbes, as they called their 
spiritual teachers, If the dark dungeons of 
Turin and other neiofhborino- Catholic towns 
could tell the story there would be many a 
sad tale of sorrow, suffering, torture, starva- 
tion and death to relate, which will never 
find a place on the pages of history. 

The Pope had at last succeeded in subject- 
ing kings and emperors to his sway, and now 
he proceeded to use them as tools for crush- 
ing the people. He let loose the concen 
trated rage of Rome for a number of years 
to devastate that beautiful champaign coun- 
try watered by the Tarn and other tributary 
steams of the Garonne in the vales of the 



PERSECUTIONS. 109 

Durance, and the plains washed by the lower 
Rhone and the waves of the Mediterranean. 
He assailed without pity those conscientious 
and enlightened people, who only aimed at 
offering to God a purer worship than had 
been taught them by the Romish priests. 
These persecutions are known by the name 
of the crusades against the Albigenses, a 
name taken from the city and territory of 
Albi, one of the principal centers of apostolic 
Christianity. Many of these so-called Albi- 
genses were of Waldenesian origin and 
faith. 

Dominic and his followers, called the Do- 
minicans, who had been commissioned by 
Pope Innocent III. to reclaim the heretics by 
preaching the doctrines of Rome, having met 
with but little success, loudly demanded the 
infliction of temporal chastisement on those 
whom they were unable to convert. Domi- 
nic himself, with a crucifix in his hand, 
dressed in a long black mantle, appeared 
among the soldiers of the Pope to stir up 
zeal against those who bowed to the author- 
ity of the Bible rather than to the self-styled 
Vicar of Jesus Christ. Fired by his zeal and 



110 PERSECUTIONS. 

under the leadership of Amalric, the faith- 
ful legate of the pitiless Pope, they went 
forth on their mission of destruction with fire 
and sword. Those who escaped the soldiers 
often fell into the hands of the more pitiless 
and cruel inquisitors. As one historian re- 
cords concerning these crusades, "From the 
banks of the Rhone to those of the Lot, 
funeral piles were continually burning. The 
confiscation of property, tortures, horrible 
torments and flames were reserved for all 
those professing the heretical doctrines whom 
the sword and lance had not slain on the 
field of battle." And soon in every land the 
spectacle of blazing heretics and tortured 
saints delighted the eyes of the Romish 
clergy. 

Over the rebellious kin^s the Pope had 
held the menace of interdict, excommunlca- 
tipn or deposition; but to the people who re- 
fused to submit to their usurped and unholy 
authority, they offered only submission or 
death. The Inquisition was their final rem- 
edy for heresy, a simple cure, which some- 
times seemed almost effectual. 

The Albigenses of the south, amidst a 



rERSECUTIONS. Ill 

general massacre of men, women and child- 
ren, seemed to be almost extirpated. The 
Dominicans, to attain the end for which their 
order was instituted, and to show them- 
selves worthy of the confidence reposed in 
t1iem, went through the towns and districts 
of Languedoc, establishing provisionary tri- 
bunals of the inquisition in different places. 
They had the barbarity to decide that the 
children of heretics, if above seven years of 
age, might be sentenced to be burned to 
death, as having reached the age of reason. 

In the cities of Italy the Evangelical Chris- 
tians ceased to be known; some still existed, 
it is true, but with the utmost secresy. I^ol- 
lardism concealed itself in Engrland. The 
sects of every land, which refused to worship 
images and the virgin, to adore the mass, to 
acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, 
disappeared from sight. The ascendancy of 
Rome seemed to be all but established. She 
now put forth her boast of a united Chris- 
tendom. 

It would be useless for me to attempt to 
give the numbers that were destroyed in 
these crusades. Mathew Paris reports that in 



112 rEllSECUTlONS. 

the year 1249 four hundred and forty-three 
heretics were condemned to the flames in 
Saxony and Pomerania. And when we con- 
sider that these persecutions were carried on 
with more or less vigor for centuries, we 
cannot place any exact estimate upon the 
numbers that perished. 

Before closinoj this chapter I cannot for- 
bear relating an incident which occurred 
during these times of fire and carnage. A 
monk named Echard was among the Inquisi- 
tors. And while he was putting questions 
to those accused of heresy, the Spirit of God 
touched his heart, their constancy in the 
midst of their sufferings and tortures, made 
him yield to the gospel. He became a he- 
retic himself, and afterwards in Germany was 
burned at the stake. 



CHAPTER XL 

PERSECUTIONS. CONTINUED. 

W'^^HILE Rome was putting forth her 
boast of a united Christendom, one 
blot still femained to disturb the complacency 
and composure of the Pope, as Mordecai's 
unbending presence in the gate disturbed the 
wicked Haman. Within the limits of Italy 
itself a people existed to whom the mass was 
still an idolatry, the real presence a papal fable, 
a people wdio did not offer prayer to saints, 
or acknowledge the authority of the Pope of 
Rome; a people who had resisted with vigor 
every sinful innovation of the Catholic 
church, a people whose simple rites and 
ancient faith were older than the papacy it- 
self. And notwithstanding the cruelty to 
which their brethren had been every where 
subjected, they still boldly maintained their 



114 PEKSECUTIONS. 

principles, and claimed the right to worship 
God according to the directions of His 
Word. This people was therefore soon to 
feel the full weight of papal indignation, 
because they existed, and believed that God 
and the Bible were supreme over their indi- 
vidual lives and over the Roman see itself. 

During these years of blood and carnage 
many Waldenses and Albigenses of other 
parts had fled to Piedmont and found refuge 
in the valleys. But the papal Inquisitors, 
like blood-hounds, were upon their tracks, 
and these innocent people were soon to feel 
their teeth. 

In the year 1400, on Christmas day, an 
armed force furnished by the Duke of Savoy, 
at the demand of the Pope's legate, unex- 
pectedly invaded one of the valleys. The 
peaceable inhabitants, thus suddenly as- 
sailed, at a season of the year when they 
fancied themselves protected by the snow 
and ice which covered the ridges and de- 
clivities of the mountains, could only flee 
with the utmost haste to their fastnesses. 
But being pursued without intermission till 
nightfall many of them fell by the sword of 



I 



PERSECUTIONS. 115 

the enemy, or were taken prisoners; others 
still more wretched, perished miserably by 
hunger and cold on the rocks, covered with 
snow and ice. The larger number fled in the 
direction of Marcel in the valley of San 
Marterno. They passed the night on a lofty 
mountain, on a spot called Albergon, or the 
Refuge. The heart is pained at the recital 
of their suffering's. In the morninof after 
that fatal day, eighty little children were 
found dead with cold, some in their cradles, 
others on the bosoms of their mothers, whose 
arms were frozen stiff about them. 

The regular crusades, hov/ever, against 
these Christians of the valleys began about 
1487 under Pope Inocent VIII. This man 
is described by Romish writers "as a man of 
rare benevolence, and a devoted lover of 
Christian union." This last characteristic, 
his love for Christian union, prompted him 
to fulminate a bull aofainst the obstinate 
Vaudois, who were not lovers of Christian 
union in the same sense in which the Pope 
was. He resolved to adorn his reign by a 
complete extinction of this heresy. In his 
manifesto he invited all Catholics every- 



110 PERSECUTIONS. 

wliere to take up the cross against them. 
"Absolving from all ecclesiastical pains and 
penalties, general and particular, those who 
should take up the cross; leiifitimatizing their 
title to any property they might have ille- 
gally acquired; and prom.ising remission of 
sin to those who would kill the heretics. It 
annulled all contracts made in favor of the 
Waldenses; ordered their domestics to aban- 
don them; forbade all persons to give them 
any aid whatever, and empowered all per- 
sons to take possession of their property. 

To Albert Cataneo was committed the 
sacred trust of carrying this decree into exe- 
cution. He entered the valleys with 18,000 
regular troops, followed by several thousand 
volunteers, "vagabond adventurers, ambitious 
fanatics, reckless pilhigers, merciless assas- 
sins," one v/riter calls them. 

The Waldenses, feeling that God would 
iiijfht for them, thoup-h but few in numbers, 
boldly defended themselves, and drove their 
enemies inglorious from the field. Driven 
to resistance by their pitiless foes, they took 
up arms with reluctance; they fought only 
for safety and freedom of conscience, and in 



PERSECUTIONS. 117 

their compassion they shed tears over their 
fallen enemies. But when put to the test it 
appeared that ev^j one of these mountain- 
eers was a hero, that he could meet toil, 
famine, danger or death with a serene breast 
in defense of his home and his faith. 

Cataneo, defeated in his purpose, quitted 
the valleys of Piedmont and passed into 
France by Mount Genevere, where he caused 
to be strangled eighteen of these poor peo- 
ple whom he had taken prisoners. 

On the French side of the Alps is a valley 
called Yal Louise, which was at this time in- 
habited by those of the Waldensian faith. 
It is little more than a deep, cold gorge, 
which descends from Mont Pelvoux to the 
basin of the Durance. Into this valley Ca- 
taneo entered with his army, made desperate 
by their previous defeat. It was in the 
month of June, 1488. The Waldenses, feel- 
ing that they could not resist a force twentv 
times greater than their own, abandoned 
their homes, placed their old people and chil- 
dren in their rustic carts, with their domestic 
utensils and such provisions as they could 
hastily collect, and retired to the ruo-ged 



1 18 PERSECUTIONS. 

slopes of Mont Pelvoux, A third of the way 
up this mountain is a large cavern, accessible 
only over fearful precipicei^. They entered 
this cavern as a place of safety, and felt 
themselves secure from their enemies. But 
one of Gataneo's leaders, named La Palud, 
succeeded with some of his men in reacliing 
this obscure hiding place, and not daring to 
venture with his men into the cavern, he 
piled up all the wood he could collect at its 
entrance, and set fire to it. Those who at- 
tempted to issue forth were destroyed by the 
flames or by the sword of the enemy, while 
those who remained within were stifled with 
the smoke. When the cavern was afterwards 
examined there were found four hundred in- 
fants and little children suffocated in their 
cradles or in the arms of their dead mothers. 
Altogether there perished in this cavern 
more than three thousand Waldenses. Cata- 
neo distributed the property of these unfor- 
tunates among the vagabonds who accompa- 
nied him, and never again did the Walden- 
sian church rise in Val. Louise. 

After Cataneo's armv had been driven out 
of the valleys of Piedmont, no other army 



rERSECUTIONS. 119 

came ao-aixist tlieni for many years. But 
they were not left in peace. They were 
harrassed by unjust restrictions laid upon 
them by their temporal sovereigns, they 
were watched by the Pope's spies contin- 
ually, and the Inquisition continued to seize, 
imprison and burn its victims as opportunity 
offered. And such opportunities were quite 
frequent. 

The valleys were at this time within the 
dominions of the king of Franct^-. The Pope, 
in negotiating a treaty with the French king, 
Henry 11. , demanded severe measures against 
the Waldenses. Henry took steps to meet 
the Pope's request, which resulted in their 
being very much distressed. On the 23d of 
March, 1556, they w^ere ordered to abjure 
their faith, and no longer to receive any 
preachers other than those sent them, from 
Catholic Turin. A refusal to obey this de- 
cree was the forfeiture of one- third of their 
goods, to go to the party informing against 
them. The Waldenses replied with a pro- 
fession of their faith, and a declaration of 
their purpose to persevere in it, after the ex- 
ample of their ancestors. 



120 PERSECUTIONS. 

In the following year a decree came from 
the king commanding them forthwith to em- 
brace Romaniam. Three days were granted 
them for deliberation. "Prove to us," re- 
plied these simple-minded people, "that our 
doctrines are not conformable to the Word 
of Gody and we are ready to abandon them; 
if not, cease to demand of us abjuration." 
"We do not ask you for discussion," said the 
king's commissiont^rs, "we only want to know 
whether you will turn Catholics or not; yes, 
or no!" "No," replied the Waldenses. 
Thereupon forty-six of their principal men 
were cited under heavy penalties to appear 
at the court of Turin within a certain time. 
Not one appeared. A month later fresh ci- 
tations were served upon them. These were 
equally fruitless. About this time a war 
broke out in which Spain and England were 
arrayed against France, which arrested pro- 
ceedings against the Waldenses, and finally 
in the restoration of their territory to Phil- 
bert Emanuel. This for a time restored 
peace and security to the Waldensian val- 
leys. 

But it was of but short duration. Phil- 



PERSECUTIONS. 121 

bert Emanuel was soon prevailed upon to ex- 
ert himself to bring his heretical subjects 
into obedience to the holy Catholic church. 
He so far yielded to the pressure that was 
brought to bear upon him, that he issued a 
decree prohibiting all persons who were not 
actually inhabitants of the valleys from re- 
pairing thither to hear tlieir preaching, and 
stringent measures were taken to prevent 
their ^vorship from being celebrated beyond 
the confines of the valleys. 

But it was not until the year 1560 that a 
new army was actually sent against them. 
In tliat year the Duke of Savoy, at the insti- 
gation of the Inquisitor, Gioconelo, sent by 
the Pope, endeavored by force of arms to 
bring these long-suffering people into obedi- 
ence to the Catholic church. Many attroci- 
ties were committed, some ^prisoners were 
burned alive, and the women and children 
were not spared. 

Of all the opponents of Rom.e the most 
hated were the Waldenses. To bind one of 
these primitive Christians to the stake 
seemed to give a strange kind of satisfaction 
to their persecutors. 



122 PEKSECUTJONS. 

The Waldenses defended themselves 
bravely against the Duke's army, and while 
they sustained heavy losses, they dealt heavy 
blows upon their enemies. Once at Pra-del- 
Tor they beat back the Catholic army with 
xrreat slaugfhter. 

Finally a peace w^as patched up between 
them and their Catholic sovereign, in which 
they were put under a heavy tribute, and 
their religious freedom much curtailed. 
After various deceptions and many outrages 
the army withdrew, leaving the people of the 
valley in extreme poverty, deprived of their 
pastors and tlieir most valued privileges. 
And what was most painful for them to en- 
dure they were compelled to see the Catholic 
worship conducted in their villages. 

But the Pope and his college of Inquisitors 
were dissatisfied with the Duke's leniency. 
Nothing vrould satisfy them but absolute 
submission or death. Hence the Inquisition 
did not cease to ply its bloody business. 
Innumerable martyrdoms filled the valleys 
with horror. It is impossible to describe, it 
is almost inhuman to remember the fearful 
atrocities couimiited by these papal perse- 



PERSECUTIONS. 123 

cutors. 

For nearly a century no new army was 
sent into the valleys, but all this time the in- 
habitants were under a perpetual terror from 
the fiendish instruments of the Romish 
church. It was during this period that a so- 
ciety, called the "Conorregatio de Prepa- 
ganda Fide" was established. Its object 
was to propagate the Catholic faith. It 
entered the valleys with all the arguments of 
the Catholic church, deception, conflagration, 
torture, the sword, the dungeon, and pro- 
ceeded to the work of extermination. Who- 
ever held doctrines different from their ov/n 
was assailed with these powerful ar^ments 
which either resulted in submission or death. 

Every means was resorted to by the pro- 
pao^andists to achieve the aim of their so- 
ciety. ''The lady propagandists," writes 
Leger, "distributed the towns into districts, 
and each visited the district assigned to her 
twice a week; suborning simple girls, ser- 
vant mpJds and young children, by their 
flattering allurements and fair promises; and 
doing evil turns to such as would not listen 
to them. ^ ^ -H- -5^ X)i(j they hear of a 



124 PERSECUTIOiVS. 

tradesman whose business was falling off, or 
of a gentleman who from gambling or other- 
wise was in want of money, these ladies were 
ever at hand with their ^Ulabo tibV on the 
condition of apostacy. 

The Jesuites also, the strong right arm of 
Popery, devoted themselves during this 
period with no little assiduity to the work of 
converting these people to the Catholic 
faith. In 1598, Charles Emanuel, under 
their influence ordered all the Vaudois, 
under pain of death or exile to attend the 
preaching of the Jesuites. 

The valleys were soon filled with the dis- 
ciples of Loyola, who put forth every effort 
to corrupt or terrify the youth. They at- 
tempted to make converts to the Catholic 
faith by preaching, by flattery, by bribes and 
by the terrors of the Inquisition. But 
though the machinery of the Inquisition was 
frequently applied they met with but little 
success so far as gfainingf converts was con- 
cerned. 

In Catholic Turin, only thirty miles aw^ay, 
the Inquisition sat almost constantly. Be- 
fore itB hated tribunal were summoned the 



PERSECUTIONS. 125 

most noted of the Vaudois. If they refused 
to go, their goods were forfeited, their lives 
in peril, if they appeared they were almost 
certain to be shut up in dark and loathsome 
dungeons, or to be put to the most torturous 
and excruciating death. The dungeon, the 
rack, or the burning most certainly awaited 
all who denied the infalability of the Pope. 
Turin during all these years of persecution 
was a constant terror to these faithful people 
of the valleys. In its public square, amidst 
its splendid palaces, died a long succession 

of martvrs for the truth. In its dreadful 

t/ 

dungeons, noisome with disease, thousands of 
innocent Vaudois have pined and wasted 
away. The woes that were endured within 
its prisons for conscience sake no tongue 
could tell, no fancy picture. 

But notwithstanding all this the church of 
the valleys still lived unspotted from the 
Romish defilements. 



CHAPTEB XII. 

PERSECUTIONS CONTINUED. 

I PASS over many interesting events in the 
history of this people and come to the year 
1655, which proved to be the bloodiest in all 
their annals. The great Reformation in 
Germany and other countries had proved it- 
self to be too great a power for the Pope to 
overcome. The papacy was declining in 
power, but as she felt that power was slip- 
ping from her through the influence of the 
Reformation she became more desperate, 
cruel and relentless in her hostility against 
all Evangelical Christians whose temporal 
sovereigns were still under her control. 
Unfortunately this was the case with the 
Christians of the Alps. They were subjects 
of the Duke of Savoy, who received his 
crown from the hands of the Pope of Rome 



PERSECUTIONS. 127 

on be'ncied knee ])efore him. And Rome re- 
garded this country and these people as the 
source from whence the great heresy had 
sprung which had now assumed the propor- 
tions of a great Reformation, which threat- 
ened to expose her polutions to the world, 
and wrest from her unholy hands both the 
temporal and spiritual power to which she 
laid claim. 

At this time Charles Emanuel occupied the 
Ducal throne. He was a man of wild but 
meek disposition. He was made the dupe 
of the insidious machinations of the Propa- 
gandists and Jesuites. Under their per- 
suasion he gave permission to Gastaldo, 
"Conservator General of the Holy Faith," to 
carry into effect an edict of May, 1650, re- 
strictingf the limits of his Waldensian sub- 
jects. 

And in January, 1655, Gastaldo, in the 
Duke's name, issued an order to the Wal- 
denses in the lower extremities of the val- 
leys, commanding them either to attend mass 
or abandon their homes and remove to the 
upper villages. In this order Gastaldo went 
beyond the edict under which he was com- 



128 PERSECUTIONS. 

missioned. A period of twenty days was 
given them to sell their lands and immova- 
bles to Catholic purchasers, which sales were 
a mere farce, and to obey the order. These 
poor people felt themselves powerless to re- 
sist. They could not defile themselves by 
bowing to the idolatrous mass. They ac- 
cepted the only alternative, ihat of exile 
from their homes, sufferino- without resist- 
ance "the spoilino' of their goods.'' 

This unreasona,ble and outrageous order 
necesitated the removal of one thousand fam- 
ilies, in the midst of a severe winter. 
Whole cities and vil liases of the lower val- 
leys were depopulated, families were reduced 
from ease and comfort to extreme want. 

The exiles were received with compassion 
by their brethren in the tolerated villages; 
they gave them a place by their firesides, and 
crowded themselves to lodge them. They 
shared with them their humble meal of parch- 
ed corn, boiled chestnut, butter and milk, 
and listened with tearful sympathy to their 
melanciioly story. Thus the whole heretic 
population was shut up within the narrow 
limits of Bobbio, Villaro, Angrogna, Rora, 



PERSECUTIONS. 129 

and the district of Bonnets. 

Strenuous efforts were made to secure per- 
mission from the Duke for these exiles to re- 
turn to their homes in the lower valleys. 
They petitioned with the utmost respect, rep- 
resenting that from time immemorial they 
had dwelt in those plains from which they 
had just been expelled, that the treaty of 
1561, which had refused to the Yaudois the 
liberty of preaching in some of the com- 
munes in question, had nevertheless recog- 
nized their riofht of resilience in them; that 
this latter privilege had been established by 
very ancient authentic acts, and had been 
constantly guaranteed in later concessions; 
that the expulsion from the places of their 
birth and the communes of their ancestors 
could not consequently be effected without 
violating the most explicit and venerable doc- 
uments, and infringing a right hitherto un- 
disputed. But these representations were 
not listened to. Access to the throne of 
their sovereign, even in humble petition, was 
shut aofainst them: 

Apparently the end was fast approaching, 
The persecutors of the Vaudois had attained 



130 PERSECUTIONS. 

their object. The Council for the propaga- 
tion of the faith and the extirpation of here- 
sy and now the consent of the Duke and his 
family, as well as the general approbation, to 
strike a final blow. The hour was come to 
exterpate heresy in a day. The Marquis of 
Pianezza, the soul of the council, assemVjled 
his troops while he deceived and quitted the 
deputies from the valleys at Turin. 

An army of more than fifteen thousand, led 
by Pianezza, by f.ilso representations and by 
the basest intrigue had secured admittance 
without resistance into the very heart of the 
valleys, into the very center of the limited 
district where the Waldenses were crowded. 
The Waldenses indeed saw the clouds gath- 
ering, but they could not imagine the malig- 
nity of the tempest that was aboat to burst 
upon them. It is true treachery was ex- 
pected and many of the men capable of 
bearing arms ha,d assembled in the valleys of 
Perosa and Pragela, which at that period be- 
longed to France. This left many of the 
villages which had been occupied by the 
Catholic troops with only the aged and infirm, 
and the w^omen and children. 



PERSECUTIONS. 181 

On Saturday, the 24th of April, 1855, at 4 
o'clock in the morning, the signal was given 
to Pianezza's soldiers for a o-eneral massacre 
of the Waldenses. The soldiers, forewarned, 
had risen early, refreshed with the sleep they 
had enjoyed under the roofs of those they 
were about to slaughter. These men whom, 
under solemn engagement of security and 
protection, the Waldenses had admitted 
without resistance to their valleys, fed and 
housed them, had been converted from sol- 
diers into cowardly assassins by the arts of 
Rome. 

Such cruelties as were perpetrated upon 
those innocent and simple-minded people on 
that day and the days following, have never 
before or since been perpetrated upon earth. 
How shall we rehearse such a tragedy? I 
take a condensed account of the barbarities 
indulged in by the brutal soldiery, from 
"Sketches of Protestantism in Italy: "Houses 
and churches v/ere burned to the ground. 
Infants were remorselessly torn from the 
breasts of their mothers and dashed against 
the rocks, or had their 'trains dashed out 
against each other; or two soldiers, taking 



182 PERSECUTIONS. 

each a leg-, rent them assunder, or cat them 
in two with their swords. The sick men 
were either burned alive, cut in pieces or 
thrown down the precipices with their heads 
tied between their leu's. Mothers and 
dauc^hters were violated in each other's pres- 
ence, impailed upon ion^y swords, and either 
carried naked as en si or ns at the head of the 
reo^iments, or left upon poles at the roadside. 
Men after bein^ indecently and barbarously 
treated w^ere cut up limb from limb as 
butchers cut up meat in the shambles; they 
had gnn powder thrust into their mouths and 
other parts of their bodies, and then were 
blown up. Multitudes had their noses, 
fingers and toes cut off, and were then left to 
perish in the snow. Many, both men and 
women, were burned alive." 

Leger says: "The valleys resounded with 
such mournful echoes of the lamentable cries 
of the wretched victims, and the shrieks 
wrung from them by their agonies, that you 
might have imagined the rocks were moved 
with compassion, while the barbarous perpe- 
trators of these atrocious cruelties remained 
absolutely insensible.'^ 



PERSECUTIONS. 133 

"It was then," exclaims Leger, "the fugi- 
tives, who had been snatched like brands out 
of the fire could address God in the words 
of the 79th Psalm." 

"O, God, the h»eathen hath come into thine 
inheritance; 

Thy holy temple have they defiled; 

They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 

The dead bodies of thy servants have they* 
given 

To be meat unto the fowls of heaven. 

The flesh of thy saints 

Unto the beasts of the earth. 

Their blood have they shed like water 
round about Jerusalem; 

And there was none to bury them." 

When the news of these heretofore un- 
heard of cruelties reached the great Prot- 
estant powers of the North — when it was 
told in London or the Hague, that these 
humble, inoffensive people of the valleys, 
the successors of the Apostles, had been thus 
slaughtered in their villages, cut to pieces in 
their own homes, dashed down the sides of 
their own native cliffs, horror and amazement 
seized u|)on all men. Their deepest svmpa- 



184 PERSECUTIONS. 

thies were stirred to the bottom for the poor 
Christians of the Alps. 

It was upon this occasion that Milton in 
one great sonnet condensed the indignation of 
the age. Says one: "No grander strain, 
no more powerful explication has fallen from 
the lord of modern poverty." He cried to 
Heaven to avenge its slaughtered saints. 
- He paints with a mighty touch the cold 
Alps, the dying martyrs, the papal monsters, 
the persecuted church. 

" A^venge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose 

bones 
liie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; 
Even them who kept the truth so pure of old, 
Forget not; in thy book record their groans, 
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold. 
Slain by the bloody Piedmontes, that rolled 
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their 

moans 
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
To Heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes 

now 

O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow 
A hundred fold, who, having learned thy way. 
Early may iiy the Babylonian woe." 

Cromwell, Protector of England, and the 
States of Holland sent envoys wiili remon- 



PEESECUTIONS. 135 

strances to the Dake of Savoy. Sir Samuel 
Moreland, England's representative, in his 
address to the Duke, after having recounted, 
in burning words, some of the cruelties per- 
petrated against these poor people, used this 
language: ''What need I mention more, 
though T could reckon up very many cruel- 
ties of the same kind, if I were not aston- 
ished at the very thought of them! If all 
the tyrants of all times and ages were alive 
again, they would be ashamed when they 
would find that they had contrived nothing, 
in comparison with these things, that might 
be reputed barbarous and inhuman. In the 
mean time the anp-els are sururised with 
horror; men are amazed; Heaven itself is 
astonished with the cry of dying aien; and 
the very earth is made to blush with the gore 
blood of so many persons." 

These remonstrances from the Protestant 
powers were met with fair promises on the 
part of the Duke, but they were Jesuitical, 
made only to be broken. On the 18th of 
August articles of peace were finally con- 
cluded, but the conditions were such as to 
leave the Waldenses more completely at the 

9 



136 PERSECUTIONS. 

mercy of their oppressors than ever, under a 
mask of establishing^ their security. By it 
the Protestant powers were duped, and the 
Waldensian churches left at the mercy of 
their heartless foes. They were reduced to 
the most extreme want, utterly impover- 
ished. We may gather from some of their 
pathetic appeals for redress some idea of 
their situation: 

"We have no grapes in the vineyard; no 
cattle in the fields; no herds in the stalls; no 
corn in the garners; no meal in the barrel; 
no oil in the cruise. The tongue of the 
suckling cleaves to the roof of his mouth, 
and the young children ask bread and no 
man gives to them." And so it was, their 
treaties of peace framed by their Jesuitical 
enemies were so rigid as to be in truth in- 
struments of persecution and torture. 

But even these hard conditions, when sub- 
mitted to by the Waldenses, were not kept 
by their enemies. They continually went 
beyond the letter of their own treaties and 
enforced the spirit of them upon the inhabi- 
tants of the valleys, levying heavy taxes 
upon them which they were unable to pay, 



PERSECUTIONS. 137 

and narrowing" the limits in which they 
might be permitted to conduct the worship 
of God according to their own Scriptural 
customs. 

I may not stop to relate how the Walden- 
ses; led by one Janavel, a brave and godly 
man, resisted these continued encroach- 
ments upon their rights. This brave man, 
with but a few men at his command, often 
beat back large forces of the enemy, and 
with great slaughter. He, together with 
Leger, became the objects of special hatred 
to the propaganda and the Popish clergy. 

At one time Janavel received a letter from 
Pionezza, who led in the massacre of 1655, 
in the following terms: "To Captain Jan- 
aval: — Your wife and daughters are in my 
hands, having been made prisoners at Rora. 
I exhort you the last time to abjure your 
heresy, as the only means of securing from 
his royal highness pardon for your rebellion, 
and of saving your w-ife and (daughters, who 
will be burned alive if you do not surrender. 
As to yourself, if you persist in your obsti- 
nacy, I shall not trouble myself to send any 
more troops after you, but simply put such a 



138 PERSECUTIONS. 

price on your head, as, had you the devil 
himself in you, would insure your being- 
taken, dead or alive; and if you fall alive 
into my hands, be sure there are no torments 
so cruel but that you shall undergo them. 
This letter is for your guidance. I advise 
you to profit by it." 

To this letter Janavel replied; "There is 
no torment so cruel that I should not prefer 
it to the abjuration of my faith; and your me- 
naces instead of deterring me from, fortify me 
still more firmly in that faith. As to my wife 
and children, they will know how dear they 
are to me; but God alone is master of their 
lives, and if you make their bodies perish, he 
will save their souls. May he receive them 
into his grace; them and me, if it befall me 
to come into your hands." 

He never fell into the hands of his ene- 
mies. When the peace was concluded of 
which we have already spoken, Janavel hav- 
ing been excepted from the amnesty granted 
to the rest of his people, retired to Geneva, 
where he ended his days. 

But many incidents must be omitted from 
this brief sketch. At this time France was 



PERSECUTIONS. 139 

the most powerful vassal of the Pope. Her 
King, Louis XIY, though bold and resolute 
toward other temporal sovereigns, bowed ob- 
sequiously and abjectly beneath the power 
of superstition, and submitted himself, in the 
credulous terror of ignorance to the iron 
sway of the Pope and his ministers. Under 
their influence he revoked the edict of 
Nantes, on the 18th of October, 1685. The 
result of this revocation was the expulsion of 
large num.bers of French Protestants, who 
found refuge in other countries. Having 
displayed his love for the holy mother church 
by this cruel and unjust measure, he proceed- 
ed to show his zeal by stirring up other 
Catholic sovereigns against the Evangelical 
Christians of their dominions. Especially 
did he bring every influence to bear upon the 
Duke of Savoy to excite him to proceed 
against the Wald^nses. 

The Duke finally acceeded to his per- 
suasions, and issued an edict against the 
Waldenses, from w^hich I extract a few arti- 
cles: 

I. ''The Waldenses shall henceforth and 



140 PERSECUTIONS. 

forever cease and discontinue all the exer- 
cises of their rehVion." 

HI. "All their ancient privileges are 
abolished." 

IV. "All the churches, prayer-houses and 
other edifices, consecrated to their worship, 
shall be razed to the ground." 

V. "All the pastors and school masters of 
the valleys are required to embrace Catholi- 
cism or to quit the country within fifteen days, 
under pain of death and confiscation of their 
goods." 

YI. "All the children born, or to be born 
of Protestant parents, shall be compulsorily 
trained up as Roman Catholics. Every such 
child, yet unborn, shall, within a week after 
its birth, be brought to the cure of its parish 
and admitted to the Catholic church, under 
pain, on the part of the mother, of being 
publicly whipped with rods, on the part of 
the father, of laboring five years in ttio 
galleys." 

IX. ^^By a special act of his ^reat and 
paternal clemency, the sovereign will permit 
all such persons (Protestant foreigners set- 
tled in Piedmont), to sell in this interval 



PERSECUTIONS. 141 

(fifteen days), the property they may have 
acquired in Piedmont, provided the sale be 
made to Catholic purchasers." 

All hearts were oppressed with .an un- 
speakable terror and pain. No previous 
measure against them had been so iniquitous. 
They could not submit. They resisted; but 
by intrigue their forces had been divided. 
They were attacked by the Duke's forces on 
one side and those of Louis on the other^ 
They were overpowered and many were 
slain. The survivors could make no condi- 
tions with their heartless conquerors. More 
than ten thousand were crowded into loath- 
some prisons; and three thousand of their 
children were distributed to Catholic towns 
to be brought up in the Catholic faith. 

As Monastier says: "Victor Amadeus 
succeeded. From the gardens of the Palace 
of Lucerna, whither he had come to enjoy 
the victory, he could behold the ravages 
made by his triumphant army. The fields 
that lay before his eyes were deserted, the 
hamlets on the side of the mountains, the 
smiling villages, with their green bowers 
and rich orchards, no lonaer contained one 



142 PERSECUTIONS. 

of their ancient inhabitants; the valleys no 
longer resounded with the bleatings of the 
flocks and the voices of the shepherds; the 
fields, the meadows, the vineyards, the 
Alpine pasture lands — scenes once so beauti- 
ful — all these districts, so happy in the pre- 
vious spring, were reduced to one vast soli- 
tude, dreary as the wildest rocks. ^ ^ 
^ ^ ^ Alas! what bloody out- 
rage had this people committed against their 
Prince to be treated thus? Were they a 
ferocious tribe, addicted to robbery, pillage 
and assassination? Thou, O Lord, knowest! 
They reverenced thy name; they only asked 
permission to obey thy precepts; they loved 
their Prince; his honor and glory was dear 
to them. Faithful, devoted, submissive to 
his laws, they only did not prefer him to 
Thyself, and never resisted his will but when 
he attempted to draw them away from that 
worship which they had rendered to thee for 
ages." 

Thus it was, says Mu.rry: "Battle had 
followed battle; city was burned after city; 
valley was entered after valley until the rug- 
o-ed yet fair heritage of this pious and simple 



PERSECUTIONS. 143 

people was converted into a desolate wilder- 
ness, and a million of their number, under 
the saber and tread of the minions of Popery 
were made to bite the dust." 

There was now peace for the first time in 
many years in the silent valleys; villag-es 
without inhabitants, homes without a family, 
churches without a congregation. A few 
Romanists alone occupied the scene. At 
length a colonv of Catholics took possession 
of the fields and dwellings of the Walden- 
ses. The Jesuites wandered freely from St. 
Joan to Pra dt^l Tor. For the first time since 
the dawn of Christianity the Virgin was 
worshipped beneath the crags of San Mar- 
terno, and the idolatry of the mass desecrated 
the scene so long consecrated to the pure 
Apostolic faith. 

The autumn of 1687 was drawing to a 
close, but w4iat had become of the Yaudois 
prisoners? 1'l^ey were still wasting away in 
the Duke's prison, save five hundred whom 
the Duke had presented to his Christian 
majesty, the King of France, and the}^ were 
now filling the office of galley slaves at 
Marseilles. Many had died in the prisons, 



144 PERSECUTIONS. 

of chagrin or disease. At length, through 
the intercession of the Evangelical Cantons 
of Switzerland, the sad remnant of the 
Vaudois were released from their dungeons. 

A large number, in the fearful winter of 
1686-87, when the Rhone was frozen to its 
bed and the Alps were encrusted with ice, 
were set free from the prison at Turin, and 
were driven by the Catholics over the pre- 
cipitous passes of Mont Cenis. The story of 
their journey to Protestant Geneva is inex- 
pressibly sad: ''Many had scarcely clothes 
to cover them, all were feeble with starva- 
tion. The road was marked hj the bodies 
of those who died by the way." 

The people of Geneva, the city of Calvin 
and Beza, as they beheld the melancholy pro- 
cession approaching, went out with a gener- 
ous pity and a true Christian sympathy to 
meet them. As the exiles entered the town, 
it is said, they lifted up their voices in the 
song of persecuted Israel, "O God, Why 
Hast Thou Cast Us Off," in a grave, plaintive 
melody, and breathed out a sad wail over the 
apparent ruin of their ancient church. But 
the end is not yet. 



CHAPTER Xril. 

BE-ESTABLISHED IX THEIR VALLEYS. 

Tj^OR three years the rule of the papists 
I I over the valleys of the Waldenses re- 
mained undisturbed. In the mean time the 
exiles had been well received and well treat- 
ed by the Protestant cantons of Switzerland. 
But the generous hospitality of Switzerland 
was overtaxed, and the question as to their 
residence became a serious one. Their 
Protestant friends advised them to abandon 
all hope of returning to their native vales. 
To relieve the Switzers of their charge the 
elector of Bradenburgh and several German 
Princes opened their States to the exiles, and 
it was even proposed that they should emi- 
grate in a body to the Cape of Good Hope 
or to America. 

But the Waldenses were pained at the 



146 KE-ESTABLISUED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 

thought of abandoning forever the hope of 
being restored to their own loved valleys, 
where their ancestors from time immemorial 
had tauofht them the true faith. Their hearts 
were affected with the sentiment of the cap- 
tives of Babylon: ^'If I forget thee, O Je- 
rusalem, let my right hand forget her cun- 
ning. If I do not remember thee, let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." — 
Ps. 137:5-6. No promises of ease and oppu- 
lence, no prospect of a foreign home could 
allure them from the distant view of Mont 
Cenis and the snow-clad Alps. Nevertheless 
constrained by their embarrassing position, 
it was decided at last that one part of them 
should go to Bradenburgh and the others 
should distribute themselves in the Palatine 
and Wirtemberg, so as not to be too far re- 
moved from their cherished home. 

From the very first they had never given 
up the project to return. Twice they made 
the attempt to set out and boldly enter their 
valleys again, but were prevented by their 
friends, who feared to incur the di^^pleasure 
of the Duke of Savoy, by permitting the 
exiles to leave their territory and force their 



RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 147 

way into their native valleys of the Alps. 
Though defeated, they did not abandon the 
project. Inspired by the brave spirit of 
Janavel and kept united in their purpose by 
the skill and perseverance of their priest 
and leader, Henry Arnaud, they still cher- 
ished the hope in their hearts. Never was 
there a project which seemed more hopeless. 

But suddenly, while all Protestant Europe 
was lamentinor the ruin of its oldest church, 
there passed before the eyes of men a won- 
derful achievement — a spectacle of heroism 
and daring scarcely rivalled at Marathon or 
Leuctra. It has been named by the ex- 
hulting Vaudois ''The Glorious Return." 

The most careful preparations had been 
made with the utmost secrecv, so as to pre- 
vent the interposition of their friends, and 
not to alarm their foes. Spies had been 
sent out w^ho had brought back information 
respecting the condition of the valleys and 
concerning the most favorable route. Ar- 
naud, their enterprising leader, though care- 
fully watched, succeeded in keeping his fol- 
lowers united in purpose though they were 
so widely separated, and at the same time 



148 RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 

succeeded in keeping his plans a secret until 
the very day of their departure, too late to 
be intercepted. The favorable opportunity 
came. A war had broken out between 
England and France. The Duke of Savoy, 
allied with France, was enoraofed in this war. 
It is true he had not left their way uninter- 
cepted. Warned by their previous attempts 
he had taken the precaution of guarding 
with armed soldiers the entrances to the 
valleys. 

But with a perfect knowledge that, if they 
would possess themselves of their dearly 
cherished homes, they must cut their way 
through a succession of foes and overcome 
seemingly impossible obstacles, they resolved 
to make the attempt, putting their trust in 
God and in the righteousness of their cause. 

The important day of their departure was 
at hand, the 16th of August, 1689. Accord- 
ing to a secret understanding they assembled 
in the wood of Prangins, situated on the 
borders of Lake Lemon, and at nightfall 
they crossed the peaceful waters of the lake, 
after having been commended to God for His 



RE-ESTABLISHED I:N^ THEIR VALLEYS. 149 

blessing and guidance by the aged Janeval, 
who could not himself go with them. 

Because of certain disappointments only 
about nine hundred men effected the passage 
of the lake — a small number to attempt so 
perilous an expedition, too few, it would 
seem, to try to force their w^ay through the 
midst of an unfriendly country, and against 
thousands of armed soldiers entrenched in 
the best positions, but far too numerous for 
the slender means of sustenance which they 
were able to procure by the wav; often- 
times they met the foe, suffering from ex- 
treme hunger. 

Having set foot upon the hostile shore, 
and offered prayer to God, led by Arnaud, 
they set out on their swift but perilous march 
toward the passes of the snow-clad Alps. 
They secured hostages and guides from the 
villages as they passed, and skilfully avoided 
creating any opposition by their Boldness, 
honesty and rapid movement. They reached 
the foot of the Heaven-towering Alps, a 
barrier they must cross. But the Vaudois 
were no strangers to the icy scene. They 
chose the most difficult paths to avoid the 



150 RE-ESTABLISHED IN TIIEJK VALLEYS. 

hostile soldiers. They cliinbed up the rug- 
ged ascent ''like the chamois bounding from 
cliff to cliff." When enemies intercepted 
them ihey dispersed them by sudden and 
impetuous attacks. Often they were without 
a suitable supply of food. On the seventh 
day they reached the pass of Mont Cenis. 
With glowing hearts and frequent prayers 
they passed over the wildest and most inac- 
cessible portion of the Alps, descending into 
the well knov/n scenes below. 

Soon they were to meet the first shock of 
battle. It was at the crossing of the Dora. 
Their numbers were reduced to eight hun- 
dred. The bridge was guarded by two 
thousand French soldiers, and the heio^hts 
were in possession of the enemy. The little 
band saw that they must cut their way 
across. Two hundred soldiers were on the 
heights behind them, two thousand in front. 
They went forward. Fire was opened upon 
them. They fell upon their faces and were 
unharmed. The critical moment had come, 
some one shouted, "Courage, the bridge is 
won." They rose and rushed impetuously 
upon the enemy. The French soldiers were 



RE-ESTABLISHED IX THEIR VALLEYS. 151 

panic-stricken with the suddenness of the 
shock. They fled in terror. The eight hun- 
dred passed over the bridge and cut down 
the enemy as they fled. Marquis de Laney, 
who commanded the French troops, was 
w^ounded in the arm. He could not arrest 
the flio-ht of his soldiers, and exclaimed with 
blasphemy, "Is it possible I have lost the 
battle and my honor?" The victory was 
complete. When the moon rose over the 
Alps seven hundred of the French soldiers 
were found dead. The Yaudois lost but 
twenty-two. 

Worn with the fatigue of march and bat- 
tle they felt the need of repose, but dared 
not rest. They offered a prayer of thanks- 
giving. They provided themselves wdth 
food and ammunition from their fallen enemies 
heapea the remainder together with the ma- 
terial of the French camp and applied a 
match to the pile. To the explosion that 
followed was added the voices of the Yau- 
dois, shouting "Thanks to the Lord of hosts, 
who hath given us the victory over all our 
enemies." They then in spite of their great 
weariness pressed forward, lest they might 



152 RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 

be intercepted the next morning by the ral- 
lied French forces. 

The next day, which was Sabbath, they 
ascended the summit of Sci just as the sun 
rose over the white peaks of the Alps. They 
looked down with grateful hearts upon the 
well-known valley of Pragela, formerly 
united to their own valleys by the bond of a 
similar faith, and under the same synod. 
Here on this mountain top they stopped to 
rest and to worship God, They then de- 
scended into the valley. The next day they 
spent in the defiles of the mountains which 
unite the valley of Pragela with that of San 
Martino. 

On Tuesday, the 27th of August, 1689, 
only eleven days since our brave heroes had 
crossed the Lake of Geneva, they entered 
the first Vaudois village, Balsille, at the 
northwest extremity of San Martino. "Sol- 
emn moment," says their historian, "uniting 
the pleasant and painful recollections of the 
past with the fears and disquietudes of the 
future." Their situation was difficult in the 
extreme. A deadly struggle awaited them. 
Their numbers had been reduced to seven 



RE-ESTABLISHED I:N^ THEJR VALLEYS. 153 

hundred. The Duke had sent twenty thous- 
and soldiers, led by the skilled Catinat, into 
the valley to destroy them. For two months 
they were harrassed by this disciplined army. 

By October 16th it seemed that their en- 
terprise must finally fail. Their numbers 
were diminished. Winter was almost upon 
them. Their food and clothing were scanty. 
Their enemies were incrf^asing. Their 
prayerful hearts were oppressed with an un- 
accustomed dread. The small remnant of 
the Vaudois were at Rodoret. It was evi- 
dent that they could not in the presence of 
their enemies retain their position much 
longer. But where should they go? 

Some advised one place, some another, 
and there came near being a division of the 
already diminished band. Arnaud, equal to 
the emergency, led them in prayer for God's 
guidance, and proposed the rock of Balsille. 
This, the reader will remember, was high up 
in the valley of San Martino. If they could 
only reach it they could bid defiance to their 
enemies for a time, and God might hear their 
prayers and send them deliverance. Ar- 
naud's proposal met with their united appro- 



154 RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 

bation. To reach it, however, they must 
pass through the midst of their foes, over a 
path that led along the brink of frightful 
precipices. Wishing to avoid an onset with 
their enemies, they set out at nightfall on 
the evening of October 22d, and reached 
their destination in safety. They rapidly 
fortified their position and baffled every at- 
tempt of the enemy to dislodge them. Here 
they spent the winter, with comparatively 
little molestation. 

When the spring opened, overtures of 
peace were offered them which th^y unani- 
mously declined to accept. Catinat came 
against them again with a large force. He 
succeeded at last, by dint of perseverance 
and endurance, in making a breach upon 
their fortifications. It seemed that their last 
hope was vanishing. Balsille could not be 
defended much longer. One means of safety 
only was left — flight. It was difficult to 
effect, surrounded as they were on all sides 
by the enemy. There was but one outlet — 
by a frightful road along a deep ravine. 
They commended themselves to God, and 
under co\er of a friendly mist they crept 



RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIK YALLEYS. 155 

down the slippery rocks, climbed in single 
file over the deep chasms of the Germanesca, 
and reached the base of Guinevert. Here 
they cut steps in the hardened snow, and, 
with terrible suffering dragged themselves 
on their hands and knees up the steep de- 
clivities, until they stood on a wide glacier, 
far above the reach of the enemy. 

When the morning broke on the Balsille, 
the French soldiers hastened to enter the 
fortifications of the Yaudois to seize their 
prey. They found only the bare rock and 
the empty castle. Enraged at their disap- 
pointment they hastened to pursue them, but 
the Yaudois, acquainted with their native 
cliffs, were able to elude their pursuers. But 
it was evident if God did not send them de- 
liverance they could not hold out much 
longer. They had waited long. Their hearts 
were fainting within them. 

Who can tell the joy of these poor people 
when the news of their deliverance came? 
Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Just 
as the last vestage of hope had been taken 
away from them God answered their prayers. 
A new war broke out between England and 



156 RE-ESTABLISHED IN THEIR VALLEYS. 

France, and Victor Amadeus joined alliance 
with England. This rupture between the 
Duke and the King of France made both 
parties very desirous for the services of the 
brave Vaudois. Liberal proposals came to 
Arnaud from both sides. True to the prin- 
ciple of allegiance to their sovereign he and 
bis brave followers decided in favor of the 
Duke. The Duke granted them protection 
and the exiled Yaudois permission to return 
to their valleys. Soon they were seen in 
bands, returning from every land where they 
liad been received, to the homes of their an- 
cestors. 

''After four years," says Monastier, "of 
cruel and painful separation, how happy were 
they to see themselves again in that beloved 
country which they had recovered, but where 
they had everything to re-establish! As 
when Israel, released from captivity, returned 
to the land of their fathers to rebuild Jeru- 
salem, to restore its temples and its worship 
and to cultivate its long-abandoned fiel^ds, 
that they might present their tithes to Je- 
hova, so this feeble remnant of the Yaudois, 
wnthout laying aside the weapons that were 



RE-ESTABLISHED I:N THEIR VALLEYS. 157 

necessary for the defence of their Prince, 
took the trowel, the spade and the plow,' re- 
built their thatched cottages, repaired their 
temples and their villages, plowed and sowed 
their fallow ground, and with grateful and 
lovinor hearts returned thanks to the all- wise, 
all-good, all-powerful God, who, having 
made them pass through severe but salutary 
trials, had restored to them, on the soil of 
their fathers, the liberty of serving Him with 
a pure worship, conformable to His Word." 

Such was the glorious return. But for the 
faithfulness of God to His promises and the 
faith and zeal of Henry Arnaud, and the 
valor and endurance of his devoted band, 
the Vaudois miofht still have w^andered in 
foreign lands and their lovely vales have re- 
mained in the possession of strangers. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AFTER THEIR RETURN. 

THE people of the valleys passed through 
various changes of fortune during the 
next one hundred and fifty -seven years, from 
1691 to 18i8. Victor Amadeus, while in alli- 
ance with the Protestant powers stood firm by 
his purpose to secure them their liberties, not- 
withstanding the bitter opposition of the 
Pope. But this period was of short dura- 
tion. Victor Amadeus, beguiled by the 
brilliant promises of Louis XIV., who re- 
quested his daughter's hand for his grand- 
son, the heir presumptive of the crown of 
France, placed himself again under the pat- 
ronage of that King. 

While the Vaudois themselves, who had 
returned to the valleys were not expelled 
upon the completion of this alliance, many 



AFTER THEIR RETURI^. 159 

of the French Protestants, who had joined 
them upon their return, were driven out. It 
was stipulated in the treaty that was made 
between the two powers: 1st — That the in- 
habitants of the Vaudois valleys should have 
no communication or connection with the 
subjects of the great King* in matters of re- 
ligion; and 2d — That the subjects of his 
most Christian majesty who had taken refuge 
in the valleys should be banished. Three 
thousand persons were driven from the val- 
leys by this cruel edict. 

The Yaudois themselves suffered various 
vexations and outrages. All taxes and im- 
ports that had accrued during their absence 
from the valleys under exile was assessed 
upon them, and were exacted with rigor. 
This oppression was not laid upon such 
Catholics as had a residence in the valleys. 
but when a Yaudois was unable to meet this 
unjust requirement he was immediately 
ejected. They were forbidden to engage in 
certain professions, to purchase property be- 
yond certain limits, to oppose the conversion 
of their children to Romanism, or to make 
proselytes themselves. If they attempted 



160 AFTER THEIR RETURN. 

to convert a Catholic to their faith the pen- 
alty was death. It was not an unusual thing 
for the Roman priests to carry ofE the child- 
ren of the Vaudois to Turin and educate 
them in the Romish faith. 

In 1730 Charles Emanuel III. assumed the 
reigns of government, but the condition of 
the Yaudois was not much bettered. 

Throughout the whole of the eighteenth 
century the Church of Rome without oppo- 
sition from the Duke labored by every means 
to extirpate its rival church in the Alps. The 
Jesuites renewed their activity; the Yaudois 
were often imprisoned and their pastors ill- 
treated. The jealous Popes looked with 
wrath mingled with contempt upon the gentle 
Moderators of the blooming valleys. 

The only period of real freedom the 
Yaudois ever knew from the time their per- 
secutions began was during the conquests of 
Napoleon. This intrepid and impulsive hero 
was touched by their history, listened to 
their complaints and granted them all they 
asked. For the first time, perhaps, since the 
days of Hilderbrand, a perfect religious 
freedom was enjoyed in the valleys, and the 



AFTER THEIR RETURN. 161 

iron tyranny of Rome and tbe Jesuites was 
held in abeyance by this offspring of revolu- 
tionary France. A century before, Louis 
XIV. had nearly secured the destruction of 
the Alpine church; in 1800 it sprang into 
new life under the protection of the French 
arms. The pastors of the valleys returned 
Napoleon's favors with sincere gratitude and 
lamented his final defeat as that of a friend. 
But when Victor Emanuel IV. came to the 
throne of the Sardinian government in 1814- 
1815, the Vaudois once more sank to the 
condition of an oppressed race. They were 
known to be advocates of freedom and ad- 
vance. The Pope and the Jesuites again 
ruled at Turin The Church and State again 
united to destroy the Israel of the Alps. 
From 1814 to 1848 they suffered indignities 
and deprivations scarcely surpassed in the 
earlier persecutions. All the ancient, op- 
pressive laws were revived. They were for- 
bidden to hold any civil office, to pursue their 
labors on Catholic festivals, to hold land be- 
yond certain limits, to make proselytes, or 
build new churches, to give, sell or lend their 
Bibles to Catholics. Romish missions were 



362 AFTER THEIR RETURN. 

established in their midst, and a convent and 
a church were built at La Tour, to complete 
the conversion of the people. 

But a brighter day was dawning-; God had 
seen their afflictions and was about to send 
them final deliverance from Rome's power 
and cruel oppression. A new King arose 
who loved his subjects and who resolved 
that they should have liberty of conscience. 
His name w^as Charles Albert, one of the 
foremost of the Italian reformers in the sphere 
of politics. He soon announced his purpose 
to give freedom and tolerance to the people 
of the valleys. A patriotic excitement arose 
in their favor. A petition was drawn up at 
Turin in their favor signed by many of the 
leading citizens of the place. It asked for 
the enfranchisement of the Vaudois and the 
Jews. It was a pleasure to this noble Prince 
to grant such a petition. And on the 17th 
of February, 1848, the royal decree was 
issued giving freedom to the oppressed 
people of the valleys. It was received by 
the simple and generous Vaudois with a 
limitless gratitude. A thrill of joy passed 
through the vales, and the sides of the moun- 



AFTER THEIR RETURiS". 163 

tains re-echoed their son^s of thanksgiving 
and praise to God for that longed-for freedom 
which had been ravished from them eight 
centuries ago. 

They celebrated their bloodless victory 
with unbounded love. At night the beauti- 
ful, mild scenery of the Alps was set off by 
a general illumination. Pignerol glittered 
with light; St. John and La Tour shone at 
the opening of the defiles; every crag and 
clifE had its bonfire; the snow- clad peaks 
and the icy torrents glowed in the illumina- 
tion, and the lovely scenery of the valleys 
delighted the beholder. And as the flames 
ascended they breathed out their prayers to 
Heaven that the blessing of freedom might 
ever rest on their native land. 

And to-day the lineal descendants of these 
primitive Christians worship God unmolested 
in the churches that were founded when 
Nero began his persecutions. The humble 
Moderators of the Alps have triumphed over 
the mitered Pope of Rome; and liberty of 
conscience reigns in the valleys in spite of 
the Roman See. 

Thus has the primitive church of the Alps 



164 AFTER THEIR RETURN. 

been preserved; and it stands as the g^olden 
link that connects the Reformed Churches 
with the Apostolic Church. 



©:: 



CHAPTER XV. 

MODERN HISTORY AXD WORK. 

' their more modern history I can write 
)ut little, having but meager data f'om 
which to draw. Their churches shared in the 
decline of vital piety which prevailed so gen- 
erally on the continent in the latter part of 
the last and the beginning of the present 
century. But for the past fifty years they 
have been vigorous and enterprising in their 
Christian life and work. 

Their revival in spiritual life has been 
traced to the consecrated life and efforts of 
Felix Neff, who was led by Providence to 
visit the Waldensian church of the Alps. 
He taught the inhabitants to irrigate their 
meadows, to improve their lands, but more 
particularly he gave himself to the work of 
awakening their interest in a life of godli- 
ness. 



166 MODEKN HISTORY AND WORK. 

From the time of the Reformation they 
had looked upon themselves as freed in a 
large measure from the responsibility of 
carrying on an aggressive missionary work. 
And the persistence and bitterness with 
which they were persecuted had almost par- 
alyzed them. But when the glow of a true 
religious life began to warm their souL their 
ancient missionary spirit was revived, and 
they have ever since followed the leadings of 
Providence with eagerness and consecration, 
following the motto which they have printed 
on their little magazine, entitled ''A Voice 
From Italy." "Thus God works to-day both 
in secret individual conversions and in wide- 
spread national revivals. Bankruptcies, 
storms, diseases, wars, are charged to batter 
down the defences, and then living disciples 
go in by the breach to convert a kingdom or 
win a soul. Missionaries seldom begin the 
work, and providences never complete it. 
Each kind of instrument is best in its own 
place and time. Do not go forward without 
providential openings, lest you should spend 
your strength for naught; and do not neglect 
providential openings, lest the lost oppor- 



MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 167 

tunity never return." Since their revival in 
religious life they have steadily acted on the 
above principle, watching intently for the 
providential openings and entering promptly 
with the Word of God in their hands. 

The labors and liberality of Col. Beckwith, 
who spent many years among them, did 
much to give them facilities and efficiency in 
the work. He interested himself particularly 
in promoting the cause of education among 
the Waldenses, establishing village and 
hamlet schools throughout their valleys. 
Says Dr. Baird who visited these people in 
1837, and who at that time became acquainted 
with Col. Beckwith: ''From first to last, 
this great benefactor of the Waldenses must 
have expended from his private resources 
many thousands of dollars among them. If 
we should say $50,000 we do not think we 
should exceed the truth." 

Dr. Gilly, who visited them in 1822, and 
who wrote their history for the English 
people, succeeded in awakening an interest 
in them among the Christian people of his 
own country, which resulted in the establish- 
ment of three or four large female schools in 



168 MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 

as many different places in the valleys, and 
the erection of a large colleo^e building at 
La Tour. Thus the valleys became the 
center of popular education for all Italy. 
The churches multiplied, the schools in- 
creased, the people of the valleys became 
better educated than those of Turin or Rome; 
and the Yaudois grew popular with the 
scholars of Sardinia, with the people, and 
even with the court. 

These enterprises have been aided from 
time to time by contributions from England, 
Scotland, Holland, Prussia, Switzerland and 
the United States. 

In 1855, within their own valleys, they 
numbered over 20,000 ; they had fifteen 
parishes, seventeen pastors, 156 educational 
institutions, with 4,000 children and youth at 
school in the winter time. 

The work which they feel themselves 
called to do is to spread the gospel over all 
Italy. For this they have been preserved 
through the ages of persecution — like the 
bush which Moses saw on Horeb — burning, 
but not consumed. "They are eminently 
fitted for this work. And they have girded 



MODERN HISTOKY AND WORK. 169 

themselves for it, and have been marching- 
down from their mountains, with the love of 
God in their hearts, with the Word of God 
in their mouth and in their hands, plantings 
churches and schools all over the land, from 
Piedmont to Sicily, from Geneva to Venice. 
They are the legitimate reformers of Italy J"^ 

The plans of God may seem slow in ful- 
filling. But wonderfully, in the slow rolling 
of the centuries, does He bring forward 
agencies and opportunities that He may vin- 
dicate his ways before men. Long ago the 
Vaudois of the Piedmont valleys forgave a& 
they would be forgiven, but it was long after 
Milton's great apostrophe to their sufferings,. 
and Cromwell's thunder across the Channel 
and the Alps at their persecutors, that the 
opportunity came for them to manifest their 
good will toward the very country which 
strove so hard to drown them in their own 
blood. Verily, they have not been overcome 
of evil, but are endeavoring to overcome evil 
with good. 

At the close of the eighteenth century a 
church of the Vaudois had been planted at 
Turin, and the liberal ideas of the valleys 



170 MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 

were fast penetrating the north of Italy. 
Steadily they have gone forward, as Provi- 
dence has opened up the way, taking pos- 
session of the whole field of Italy and Sicily 
spread out before them. 

In their labors the pulpit and the press 
co-operate together. By the liberality of a 
lady in Dublin the Waldenses were pre- 
sented with a small printing establishment. 
At first it was set up and worked quietly at 
Turin amid fear and trembling, lest the 
Catholics should become enraged and destroy 
it, its productions and its operators. But in 
1861 it waa transferred to Central Italy, where 
the fight was raging hottest between dark- 
ness and light, and located in Florence, the 
literary capital of the country. It is named 
the "Claudian Office," in honor of Claude of 
Turin, who was a firm advocate of the truth 
and liberty of conscience. 

In 1864 three journals eminated from the 
Claudian office — a weekly newspaper under 
the editorship of Dr. Revl, a weekly Sabbath 
School Magazine, beautifully illustrated, with 
a circulation of 4,000 copies, and a fort- 
nightly "Family Readings." Besides these 



MODEKX HISTOEY AXD WORK. 171 

journals this press has sent forth many copies 
of the Scriptures, and other reh'^ious books 
and tracts. 

The Waldenses carried on this work of 
evangelizing Italy and Sicily, aided by for- 
eign contributions in their enterprises, until 
every considerable city was occupied but 
Rome, the city of the Pope. Here the Pope 
and the Jesuites still held rule. Rome under 
the sway of the Pope would still snatch the 
Bible out of the hands of her children and 
cast it into the flames and crush the con- 
sciences of her subjects under her heel, with 
mediaeval tyranny. Rome alone of all the 
cities of Europe still pressed to her bosom 
the grim skeleton of the Inquisition as her 
most cherished darling. She still asserted 
and reiterated her right to govern the minds 
and consciences of men by brutal force. 
But Italy no longer supported Rom.e. The 
Pope held his position as temporal sovereign 
only by the aid of foreign bayonets. 

But France, Rome's obedient vasse], in her 
haughtiness declared war against Prussia. 
Her power was broken for a time. Thus 
prop after prop which formerlv so stead- 



172 MODKRN HISTORY AND WORK. 

fastly supported St. Peter's chair was taken 
away; first Italy, then Austria, after it Spain, 
and through the instrumentality of the 
Franco-Prussian war the last prop was re- 
moved. The Ecumenical Council had scarce 
reasserted the absurd and blasphemous dogma 
of Infallibility, when the French troops 
which supported the Pope were called away 
to more serious duty, and the poor Pope was 
left defenseless. And on September 20th, 
1870, shortly after the disasters that had be- 
fallen the French army in their war with 
Prussia, the Italian army entered Rome, and 
Rome was free. 

Several colporteurs employed by the Brit- 
ish and Foreign Bible Society accompanied 
the Italian army on their march to Rome, 
and entered with them on the 20th of Sep- 
tember. Of course they did not do much 
for some time in the way of distributing 
Bibles and tracts. 

Mr. Prochet, a Waldensian pastor from 
<jreneva, was the first Italian Evangelist who 
set foot in Rome after the entrance of the 
Italian army. He held the first evangelical 
meeting on the 9th of October, in a room 



MODERN HISTORY AXD AVORK. 173 

occupied by an English gentleman at the 
Hotel cle V JJnivers. The people present 
were a few foreigners, the colporteurs, sev- 
eral soldiers and some Romans. On the 
following Sabbath he resolved to receive his 
friends at his own room in the hotel, but 
when the landlady heard it she became so 
angry or so frightened that she threatened to 
send Mr. Prochet away that very night, and 
only allov/ed him to remain on condition 
that he should have no more meetino-s in 
her house. 

With commendable zeal and wonderful 
energy and perseverance they faced and 
overcame the oreat obstacles that met them 
in the city of the Vatican, and went forward 
in establishing their mission, and Sabbath 
and day schools in that city. 

The followinof is a tabulated view of their 
whole work as reported to their Synod in 
1872: 



a> 2. 



.3 



r 



I ^' 



CD ro 



H: OW<r 






1^3^-a 



►5 ^ 

o 5' 

i" a> 



o ►-. a 

— CD 



j:- CD X !^ CD i^' 5" D 

;::^;::cDfn:r&Jo3^ 

clS <!2-?^ 




H 

2 
o 

H 



H 
> 
H 

O 
Z 



■ ■ sjo;sBcj 



•SJSipSUBAa 



•SIOJSBJAJ 



■ tOM4^l-l M- MMHK5l-iU)U)«-n 


M 




M M O 


: MMtOM MMMHMMl-iMwK> M M M MQO 


OMOUtOJ Cr>hSOOMOiVJJs)OOCX! 


JO 


^ ^ 


O M-f^ 


• J0MO>-< • • • MMl-(tOCn-P>-Lo 

• C»K)U>00 . • • VJOOUiOOO 


to 


c^ • 


Mui O 



•sass3j;sTi\[ 



•sicoqos 



• siooqos 'q^S 



Sim^oiunmuioo 



sjBioqos Xbq 



•srBpqos "q^S 



^ I 



To] 



2 ft> S 






S5 
o 



5^1 : 









^ 






■is 


w 


-^. M H K> • 


'■ 1-. U ►H K) •" 


• K) M 


S9SS9J1SII\[ 


oo 


-.•i. 


o^ M M oo • 




• -F^ JO 


siooqos 


oo 


^ 


U> M M M 1- 


^ M M W M M M 


M M H^ 


••siooips -qns 




o 


oo oo O N • 


to M \I 'jj O -F^ 


OO O 00 


•s?UBQiunraino3 


CO 


00 


W M 

LO K) hJ N) • 


• 4^ 00 O O • 




•sjBpqDS '^^a 



C/3 

2 
o 

H 



H 
> 
H 

O 

C/) 



• SIOlSBtl 



• • • s^siiaSuBAg 



•sjajsEj^ 



••siooqos "q^S 



176 MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 

According to the annual report of the 
Waldensian church for 1891, printed at 
Rome, they now have churches and stations, 
outside of their valleys in ninety-seven large 
and small cities in all provinces of Italy, 
which are under five Presbyteries. 1st, Pied- 
mont; 2d, Lombardy; 3d, Tuscanv; 4th, 
Rome and Naples; 5th, Sicily. These 97 
missions number over 4,500 communicants, 
most of whom are converts from Romanism. 
They contributed during the year of 1891, 
seventeen thousand dollars, for the support 
of their missions, which was very liberal con- 
sidering their financial condition. 

In addition to the churches they have sixty 
schools, in which above three thousand chil- 
dren receive secular and religious instruction. 
They have one hundred and thirty-eight 
pastors and teachers at work in Italy and 
the expense of their mission is $125 every day. 

The work they have upon their hands is 
vast. The expenses connected with it are 
far too great for the slender income of the 
valleys. The Free Church of Scotland has 
a Presbytery in Italy, which co-operates with 
the Waldenses, by aiding them with money, 



MODERN HISTORY AND WORL. 177 

leaving to them the work of preaching in the 
Italian language. She has often received 
aid from England and this country. One of 
ber appeals was expressed in these touching 
words: "Whilst she was alone the Walden- 
sian church, having neither gold nor silver, 
shed her blood for Christ's sake. Now that 
God has given her rich and influential sisters, 
she asks help that she may avenge the 
slaughter of her ancestors by preaching the 
gospel of peace to the sons of her persecutors." 
The Pan Presbyterian council, which met 
m Philadelphia in 1880, heard the appeal of 
the Waldenses for help, and recognizing 
their great need of assistance, and the worthi- 
ness of their cause, and the efficiency and 
purity of their work, appointed a special 
eommittee to lay before the churches of 
America the wants of the pastors and pro- 
fessors of the Waldensian churches in the 
Talleys of Piedmont and Northern Italy. 
The chairman of that committee was Henry 
Day. The sum desired from America at 
that time was $20,000. The churches of 
Great Britian w^ere asked for $40,000 at the 
same time. 



178 MODERN HISTORY AND WOKk. 

The American committee sent out an 
appeal from which I take a few extracts. 

'"•These churches have throug^h long cen- 
turies of persecution and suffering held the 
faith in its purity, and at this day are among 
the most interesting and deserving of the 
members of the great family to which we 
belong. To them the whole Protestant 
church owes a debt of gratitude for witness- 
ing before the world a good confession, and 
maintaining the faith in the midst of general 
decay and defection. Since 1847, the Wal- 
denses have been a missionary church, and 
have planted stations in all parts of Italy and 
Sicily. But the pastors of their native val- 
leys have been left with very inadequate 
support." 

''There are now twenty-two pastors and 
professors of the Waldensian churches in 
Piedmont. They are very poor. They 
receive a stipend of only $300 each, annu- 
ally, hardly enough to give them the necess- 
aries of life. The proposition was supported 
by the late General council in Philadelphia 
to raise a fund to be invested in Great 
Britian under the charge of a committee, the 



MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 179 

mcome of which shall be applied to augment 
the salaries of these pastors so that they may 
receive $500 each, annually. -5^ -h- -^ -h- 
Your committee request the pastors to com- 
mend the first effort of the Alliance for 
practical co-operatian to all the churches." 

As to the result of this appeal I am not 
able to make any statement. But the work 
in which this church is engaged is enlarging 
much more rapidly than the little church of 
the valley is able to support. A delegate of 
the Waldensian Missionary Board has visited 
during this year, 1892, some of the American 
churches and his appeal has been heartily 
and liberally responded to. 

It is not to be supposed that this work of 
evangelizing Italy and Sicily is an easy one. 
Ignorance, indifference, Jesuitism and the 
worst forms of infidelity are powerful foes to 
contend with. And these are to be met 
with everywhere in mission fields where the 
papacy has so long held sway. 

Some years ago the introduction of the gos- 
pel into a new station was met with great 
difficulty. But as the power of the Pope has 
waned, and the good name of the Waldenses 



180 MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 

has increased, these difficulties have beeia 
lessened. The king of Italy and other 
political men, as well as the best part of the 
Italian press speak in very favorable terms 
of these faithful and zealous people in the 
last years. 

I quote from Dr. Prochet's suppliment to 
the annual report of the church for 1891. 

"The history of the past recommends the 
Waldenses to the esteem and to the respect 
of their fellow countrymen — of the real 
Italians who love their country and would 
never ^ surrender their Captital to Le*^ 
XIII. — -beginning with the king and com- 
ing down through the various ranks of 
society. Facts to prove it might be adduced 
bv the hundreds, but a few wnll suffice. 

"Three years ago I had the honor to be 
received by the king, to whom I presented 
the homage of the Waldenses. 'I shali 
answer you with one word,' the king replied. 
'We make one family.' In August last the 
King was in one of the valleys of the Cotiam 
Alps, to be present at a sham fight in the 
mountains. The mayors of the adjoining com- 
munes and priests gathered to present theii^ 



MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 181 

respects; modestly on the rear stood the 
Moderator of the Waldensian church, and 
the President of the Board. The King saw 
them and, passing before priests and mayors 
without stopping, went straight to them 
with outstretched hands. During the friendly 
conversation which followed, on hearing that 
the Waldensian population amounted to 
about 30,000, all included, the King added, 
'All good people! all good people! Tutta 
brava gfentes!' The Waldenses erected in 
1889 a commemorative house in Torre-Pellice 
to record the return of their forefathers from 
the exile in 1689, and the King contributed 
$1,000 toward that object. 

"In January of this year (1892) I was con- 
versing with one of the ministers of State. 
Wishing to know what his feelings were, I 
said, speaking of some persons; I think they 
are Evangelicals. 'No, no,' answered the 
minister, 'they are Waldenses.' I need not 
say that I corrected the eclesiastical notion 
of the minister and told him that the Wal- 
denses also held the evangelical faith. But 
the words I quoted tell pretty clearly, 1 
think, that the opinion in those spheres is not 
unfavorable. 



182 MODERN HISTOKY AND WORK. 

"A professor of the University of Rome 
said to me one day, 'Believe me sir, sir as 
sure as God lives, the time will come when 
Italy will reckon amongst its purest glories, 
the glory of having had within its boundaries 
the Waldensian church, because it has given 
the largest number of martyrs to the saintest 
of all causes, the cause of liberty of Con- 
science." 

It is a pleasure to note the Lords good 
hand upon this long persecuted but faith- 
ful church. He walked with her in the 
midst of her trials, and delivered her out of 
all her distresses and hath crowned her with 
glory and honor in the presence of all her 
enemies, and has brought her into favor in 
the land of her persecutors. Blessed be His 
holv name. 

We now close our very imperfect sketch 
of the remarkable history of this most 
remarkable body of Christian people. Their 
preservation and present activity and pros- 
perity is a striking illustration of God's 
faithfulness to his promises. Many of their 
victories over their enemies, and especially 
their ''Glorious Return to their valleys they 



MODERN HISTORY AND WORK. 183 

themselves regard as little less than miraca- 
lous. No people ought to lie nearer to the 
heart of the Christian world than the Vau- 
dois. 

"The great hearts of your olden time 
Are beating with you full and strong; 

All holy memories and sublime 
And glories round you throng. 

^ :^ ^ ^ ^ 

The truths ye urge are borne abroad 

By every wind and every tide. 
The voice of Nature and of God 

Speaks out upon your side. 

The weapons which your hands have found 
Are those which heaven itself has wrought, 

Light, Truth and Love:— your battle ground 
The free,broad field of Thought. 

Press on! and we who may not share 

The toil or glory of your fight, 
May ask at least, in earnest prayer, 

God's blessing on the right." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ROMAXISM UNCHANGED. 

THE church of Rome, whose relentless 
opposition to the apostolic church of 
the Alps has made their history intensely 
significant, still exists. Her proud boast is 
^'"seryiper eadeni''^ — always the same. It is no 
unmeaning- boast. She is still the same 
deceitful, aggressive, intolerant, arrogant 
church as in those bloody days. She is still 
a persecuting church if she dared to raise 
her bloody hand, or to speak with her flaming 
tongue. Her system is in its very nature a 
system of intolerance and of tyranical des- 
potism. We are apt to lose sight of this 
essential characteristic of Romanism in this 
land of civil and religious liberty. 

This church is planted on American soil — 
and flourishes under the ^gis of American 
liberty. Her bloody hand has not appeared. 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 185 

Our self confident people are disposed to 
think that she has washed out the blood 
stains, and that the free pure air of our 
great country has chang^ed the spirit of 
the papacy. 

But where is the proof of the change? Is 
it not her Jesuitical spirit that dictates her 
present policy? Her bloody hand is gloved, 
not washed. Tt should be borne in mind 
that the church of Rome dare not exhibit 
her true spirit, or attempt at once to enforce 
the doctrines of her system. 

Her adherents are yet in the minority, and 
consequently she must remain apparently 
quiescent. But she is not quiscent. She 
is watching and working with sleepless 
vigilance. 

She is teHiered now by her numerical 
weakness, by lack of political power, and by 
her Jesuitical policy. But this tether strong 
as it is does not change her nature or dis- 
position. Let this tether be removed and 
she will prove herself to be possessed of the 
same spirit which made her what she is. A 
wild beast tethered is as much a wild beast 
as if he was loose and his jaws were bathed 



186 KOMANISM UNCHANGED. 

in human blood. The stake driven into the 
i^round is not an element of the beasts na- 
ture, neither is the strong chain which binds 
him to it. What would he be, what would 
he do if he were loose? These are the ques- 
tions which bring to view the nature of the 
beast. What would Rome do if she had 
tlie power, if she dared? There is but 
one answer to the question so long as she 
adheres to her present dogmas. 

It is a prime dogma of Romanism, that all 
which the church teaches through the 
approved channels of the Popes and Councils 
is sacred, infallible and unchangeable. Let 
this be distinctly understood. What she has 
once taught is right, and must forever 
remain to her as right. Change, innovations, 
repeals, reforms, can find no admittance into 
the papal system, without destroying the 
foundation on which the entire superstructure 
stands. "The whole of our faith," says 
Cardinal Pullavicini, a high Catholic au- 
thority, "rests upon one indivisible article, 
namely, the infallible authority of the 
church. The moment therefore, that we give 
up any part whatever, the whole falls; for 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 187 

what admits not of being divided, must evi- 
dently stand entire or fall entire." 

There are no doubt many excellent indi- 
viduals in the Catholic church, who dissent 
from her absurd and cruelly intolerant doc- 
trines. But individual excellency does not 
change the system. There are perhaps 
many members of the Catholic church in 
America who are more American than 
Roman Catholic. But it is true that these 
men of liberal mind do not shape the policy 
or purpose of the church in our country or in 
any country. The church has never dis- 
claimed her history, or renounced her fearful 
atrocities. She has rather justified the past. 
If she had changed why did she not in her 
last Ecumenical Council say so? Why 
did not she publicly, before the world , hasten 
to wash her hands from these murderous 
abominations which disgrace her record fr.^m 
the beginning. But instead, she reasserted 
her absurd domna of infallibilitv. Thus she 
indorsed the records of the past and an- 
nounced to the vvorld that there was no 
change in her purpose or spirit. And what- 
ever may be the sympathies of the so called 



188 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

liberal minded Catholics, they are for the 
most part entirely docil to the Pope and the 
Romish system. Many members of the 
Vatican Council of 1870 opposed with 
vigor the dogma of papal infallibility. 
Among these opponents were many pre- 
lates distinguished for learning and position. 
Before the vote was taken more than a 
hundred bishops and archbishops withdrew 
Irom the council. But after the obnoxious 
decree was passed these same men submitted 
to it and published it to their respective 
flocks. The liberal element is not in con- 
iroll, or likely to come into controll of the 
papal policy. 

There are many wise and thoughtful men 
in this country who regard the encroachments 
of the Romish church as a menace to oui 
government, and to all our free institutions. 

One of the truest and stanchest friends of 
American liberty said "if the liberties of the 
American people are ever destroyed, they 
will fall by the hand of the Romish clergy." 
This was the utterance of Lafayette, w^io 
was born a Catholic, and who knew well the 
nature of Romanism, and her despotic antag- 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 189 

oiiism to both civil and religious liberty. 
Prof. S. F. B. Morse, in commenting on the 
above quotation from Lafayette, says "The 
very last interview I had with Lafayette on 
the morning of my departure from Paris, 
full of his usual concern for America, he 
made use of the same warning, and in a let- 
ter which I received from him but a few days 
after at Havre, he alludes to the whole sub- 
ject with the hope expressed that 1 would 
make known the real state of things in 
Europe to my countrymen, at the same time 
charging it upon me as a sacred duty as an 
American, to acquaint them with the fears 
which were entertained by the friends of re- 
publican liberty." The present encroach- 
ments of the Roman Catholic church in 
America are striking evidence of the sagacity 
of Lafayette, liberty's great friend. 
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, ''I 
do not intend to be a prophet; but, though 
not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on 
our horizon, and that dark cloud is coming 
from Rome. It is filled with tears of 
blood." It is not wise for the lovers 
of liberty to sleep while the enemy 



190 JIOMANISM UNCHANGED. 

SOWS tares. I would not be an alarmist, 
but I desire to present a few facts which in- 
dicate threatening danger. Without be- 
coming alarmed we ought to be vigilant. 
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 

Romanism in its very nature is antagonis- 
tic to the genius of our government. It is 
necessarily despotic, thoroughly undemo- 
cratic. It could not be Romanism and be 
tolerant of the sovereignity of the people. 

Pope Boniface YIII, in a bull called 
UnaTYi Sayictani^ recognized as a part of the 
Canon Law, says, ''It is necessary that one 
sword should be under another, and that 
the temporal authority should be subject 
to the spiritual power. Knd. thus the 
prophecy of Jeremiah is fulfilled in the 
church, and the ecclesiastical power, "Behold 
I have set thee over the kingdoms, 
to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, 
and to throw down, to build and to plant!" 
Therefore, if the earthly power go astray, it 
must be judged by the spiritual power." The 
spiritual power to which all kingdoms are 
amenable is the Roman Pontiff. In the dic- 
tates drawn up by Pope Gregory VII, it is 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 191 

declared, "It is lawful for the Pope to de- 
pose emperors, and absolve subjects from 
their allegiance to unrighteous rulers." Pope 
Martin V, in sending ambassadors to Con- 
stantinople, headed their instructions thus, 
"The Most Holy and Most Blessed, who is 
Lord on Earth, the Master of the Universal 
World^ the Most High and Sovereign Bishop 
Martin," etc. Bishop Gilmour in his Lenten 
Letter, March 1873 said, "Nationalities must 
be subordinate to religion, and we must 
learn that we are (Catholics first, and citizens 
next. God is above man and the church 
above the state." In 1864 Pius IX, said, in 
his Syllabus of Errors; It is an error to hold 
that "In the case of conflicting laws between 
the two powers, the civil law ought to pre- 
vail." The present Pontiff, in an encyclical 
issued January 10th, 1890, says, "It is wrong 
to break the law of Jesus Christ in order to 
obey the magistrate, or under pretense of civil 
rights to transgress laws of the church." We 
must bear in mind that he claims to be the 
Vicee^erant of Jesus Christ on earth. Agfain in 
the same letter he says, "But if the laws of 
the state are openly at variance with the laws 



192 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

of God — if they inflict injury upon the 
church "^ "^ "^ ^ ^ OY set at naught 
the authority of Jesus Christ which is vested 
in the Supreme Pontiff, then indeed it be- 
comes a duty to resist them, a sin to render 
obedience." 

Said Vicar-General Preston, in a sermon 
preached in New York, January 1st, 1888, 
"Every word that Leo speaks from his high 
chair is the voice of the Holy Ghost and 
must be obeyed. To every Catholic heart 
comes no thought but obedience. It is said 
that politics is not within the province of the 
church, and that the church has only juris- 
diction in matters o^ faith. You say 'I will 
receive my faith from the Pontiff, but I 
will not receive my politics from him.' 
This assertion is disloyal and untruthful. 
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ You must not tJmiJc as you 
choose^ you must think as Catholics. The 
man who says I will take my faith from 
Peter, but I will not take my politics from 
Peter, is not a true Catholic. The church 
teaches that the Supreme Pontiff must be 
obeyed, because he is the Vicar of the Lord. 
Christ speaks through him." 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 193 

The authoritative teaching of the church is 
clear and uniform, Catholics are subject to 
the Roman Pontiff as a civil ruler. They 
cannot renounce allegiance to him and come 
under the civil authority of any other civil 
power and remain true Catholics. If this 
church ever gains sufficient numbers, in this 
country, the conflict between our civil 
authority and the temporal power of the 
Pope is inevitable. 

The Catholic press of the country does not 
hesitate to assert her acceptance of the 
above doctrines. I quote from the Catholic 
Worlds "To seek to modify the position and 
action of the Church, so as to force her to ac- 
cept and conform to the dominant popular 
tendency or passion of the age or nation, is 
to vcn^tdike her essentictl charcicter and office^ 
and to forget that her precise mission is to 
govern all men and nations^ hings and 
peoples^ sovereigns and subjects^ and to con- 
form them to the invariable and inflexible 
law of God, which she is appointed by God 
himself to declare and apply, and therefore 
to resist with all her might every passion or 
tendency of every age, nation, community, or 



194 ROMANISM UNCHAJSGED. 

individual whenever and wherever it deviates 
from that law of which she is the 
guardian and judge. The church is in 
stituted, as every catholic who understands 
his religion believes, to guard and defend the 
rights of God on earth against every and 
any enemy, at all times and in all places. 
She therefore does not and cannot accept^ 
or in any degree favor liberty in the Protes- 
tant sense of liberty." -h- -^ * -Jf -Jt 

"The Protestant experiment has demon- 
strated beyond question that the very things 
in the Catholic church v/hich are most offen- 
sive to this aofe, and for which it wao-es un- 
relenting war against her, are precisely those 
things it m.ost needs for its own protection 
and safety. It needs first of all the Catho- 
lie Churchy nay^ the Papacy itself to de- 
clare and apply the lava of God to states 
and empires^ to sovereigns and subjects,, 
kings and peoples ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
The present delusion of the loud-spoken 
nineteenth century must give way before her^ 
as she once more stands forth in her true 
light, and her present enemies must be 
vanquished." 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 195 

In her doctrine and spirit, the Catholic 
ehurch stands in direct antagonism to all the 
fundamental principles of our government. 

She proposes that the infallible Pontiff 
shall take charge of the government, of all 
ecclesiastical affairs, of the press, of the con- 
science and tongues of all the people. xn 
'^Essays on Religion and Literature," edited 
by Cardinal Manning, we find this clear and 
concise statement. "That neither the church 
nor the state, whensoever they are united on 
the true basis of divine right, have any cog- 
nizance of tolerance. ^ "^ -^ "^ "^ The 
ehurch has the right, in virtue of her divine 
commission, to require of every one to ac- 
cept her doctrines. Whosoever obstinately 
refuses, or obstinately insists upon the elec- 
tion out of it of what is pleasing to himself 
is against her. But were the church to toler- 
ate such an opponent she must tolerate 
another. If she tolerate one sect, she must 
tolerate every sect, and thereby give herself 
up." Dr. O. A. Brownson said in the Catho- 
lic Heview^ June 1857, Protestantism oj^ 
every form has not^ and never can have 
any right where Catholicity is triumphant,'^^ 



196 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

In his Sylabus of Errors, December 8, 1864, 
Pius IX. declared it to be- an error that, 
"Every man is free to embrace the religion 
he believes true, guided by the light of 
reason." 

Our law provides, "The alien seek- 
ing citizenship must make oath to renounce 
forever all allegiance and fidelity to any 
foreign prince, potentate, state or sover- 
eignty, in particular that to which he has 
been subject." The Romish profession or 
faith, which received the sanction of the 
Catholic Council which met at Baltimore in 
1884, contains the following oath of allegiance 
to the Pope: "x\nd I pledge and swear alle- 
giance to the Roman Pontiff, Yicar of Jesus 
Christ, and successor of the blessed Peter, 
prince of the Apostles." 

The Jesuites take the following oath: "I 
do renounce and disowm any allegiance as 
due to any heretical king, prince, or state, 
named protestants, or obedience to any of 
their inferior magistrates or officers. I do 
further declare that the doctrine of the 
church of England, of the Calvanists, Huge- 
nots, and others of the name protestants, to 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 197 

be damnable, and they themselves are 
damned and to be damned that will not for- 
sake the same. I do further declare that I 
will help, assist and advise all or any of his 
Holiness' agents in any place wherever 
I shall be — in England, Scotland, Ireland, 
or in any other territory or kingdom I shall 
come to, and do my utmost to extirpate the 
heretical Protestants doctrine^ and to destroy 
all their pretended povjers^ regal or other- 
wise^'''' etc. ^ 

In the bishops oath are found these words: 
"Heretics, schismatics and rebels against our 
said Lord or his successors I will to my ut- 
most persecute and oppose." In the light of 
these oaths, can any Catholic be a true and 
loyal citizen in our government. It may be 
said they take our oath of allegiance. That 
may be true. But what is that oath to a 
true Catholic. According to their doctrine 
it is no sin to take it, even though the inten- 
tion is to violate it. Read their Canon Law. 
"No oaths are to be kept if they are against 
the interests of the church of Rome . " And 
again: "Oaths which are against the Church 
of Rome, are not to be called oaths, but per- 



198 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

juries," Bishop English, of Charleston, 
S. C. in "Letters Concerning the Roman 
Chancery" quotes the above canon, and de- 
fending it says, "These are the principles 
which I find recognized in all enactments 
and interpretations of councils in the Roman 
Catholic church, from the council at Jeru- 
salem, held by the Apostles, down to the 
present day." Tn a work prepared by Rev. 
F. X. Schouppe for Roman Catholic schools 
and colleges, and bearing the imprimature 
of Cardinal Manning, we read, "The civil 
laws are binding on the conscience only so 
long as they are conformable to the rights of 
the Catholic church." The wayfaring man, 
though a fool need not err in understanding 
the uniform and presistant teaching and 
spirit of the Romish church. It does not 
entertain the slightest tolerance for our sys- 
tem of Government, or for any of our free 
institutions. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ROMANISM UNCHANGED (CONTINUED). 

Her special hatred is concentrated upon 
our cherished public school system. Here 
our youth are taught to lore and promote 
freedom of conscience, thought and 
speech, and to hate tyranny and oppression. 
This free school system under the care of the 
state is one of the greatest obstructions in the 
pathway of the Romish hierarchy. They 
claim, and there is no doubt good ground for 
the claim, that they have lost many thousands 
of their children from the church, through 
the influence of the public schools. Hence 
their bitter hatred to our system of educa- 
tion. For many years she has been seeking 
to undermine the school system of America, 
and to locate her dynamite to be touched off 
at an opportune time. 



200 ROMAXISM UNCHANGED. 

On this subject Pius IX, holds that it is an 
error to say that, ''The entire direction of 
public schools ^ "^ ^ "^ niay and must 
appertain to the civil power, and belong to 
it so far that no authority whatsoever shall be 
recognized as having any right to interfere 
in the discipline of the schools, the arrange- 
ment of the studies ^ "^ -^ -^ or the 
choice and approval of teachers." Again 
he declares that it is an error that, ''The best 
theory of civil society requires that popular 
schools ^ "^ "^ ^ should be freed from 
all eoclesiastical authority, government, and 
interference, and should be fully subject to 
the civil and political power, in conformitv 
with the will of rulers and the prevalent 
opinions of the age." He says again. It is 
an error, that, "This system of instructing 
youth, which separates it from the Catholic 
faith and from the power of the church 
^ ^ ^ ^ i^g^y \yQ approved by Cath- 
olics." 

Bishop McQuaid said in a lecture in 
Boston, February 13, 1876, "The state has 
no right to educate, and when the state under- 
takes the work of education it is usurping 



ROMANISM UJ^CHANGED. 201 

the power of the church." The *'Tablet" 
said some time ago, ''We hold education to 
be a function of the church, not of the state, 
and in our case, we do not, and we will not, 
accept the state as educator." 

Said the Catholic Review^ August 13, 
1889, ''The parochial school is necessary be- 
cause Catholics cannot be brought up Catho- 
lic and attend the public school. This 
is a recognized fact. -^ -^ -^ -5^- At the 
present moment the Catholic church in 
America depends more on the faith of the 
Catholic imigrant than on the faith of the 
generation which has received its education 
in the public schools. -^ -^ -^ We see 
no way of making them (young Americans) 
Catholics than by the parochial school. 
Our conscience forces us to take up the 
work." 

In Boston, December 22, 1887, Father Mc- 
Carthy, a Jesuit, gave a lecture in which is 
found the following sentiment, "Dearly be- 
loved, I did not come here to give my 
opinion, I came here to give the teaching of 
the Catholic church. What is the teaching 
of the Catholic church? That parents may 



202 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

not send their children to godless schools un- 
less a certain necessity arises. If they have 
other schools to send them to where they can 
receive a fitting" education, and they send 
them to godless schools where no religion is 
taught — schools from which religion is ban- 
ished — they are guilty of mortal sin. We 
cannot allow this state of things to go on 
without imperiling the salvation of your 
children and our own salvation. When the 
state steps in and assumes the role of the 
school teacher, then there is the invasion of 
the individual right, the invasion of the 
domestic rights, the invasion of the rights 
of the church, and the invasion of divine 
rights. There is no circumstance under 
which the state is allowed to teach. When 
orphans, foundlings, paupers are neglected, 
the state may see to it that they are educated, 
but the state has no right to educate them, 
but to see to it that they have the education 
that they have a right to. You cannot have 
a sufficiently vivid realization of the neces- 
sity of Catholic teaching, the teaching of 
Catholic children by Catholic teachers, from 
Catholic books, in Catholic schools. The 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 203 

State has no right to teach, no right to edu- 
cate. It (the public school system of Amer^ 
ica) is a national fraud." The Freeman's 
Journal says: ''Let the public school sys- 
tem go to where it came from — the devil." 

A "Pastoral Letter," sent out by the Bal- 
timore Council of 1884, contains these words: 
"We must multiply them (parochial schools) 
till every child in the land shall have the 
means of education within its reach." 

The parochial school system is their 
remedy against our public school system. 
According to the Catholic directory for 1890^ 
they already have 3,194 parochial schools 
in this country. They are pressing this 
matter with all their vig-or. At a conference 
of Archbishops of the Catholic church, held 
in New York, Nov. 1892, the following reso- 
lutions were adopted: 

"First — Resolved, To promote the erec- 
tion of Catholic schools, so that there may be 
accomodations in them if possible for all our 
Catholic children, according to the decrees 
of the third Plenary Council of Baltimore. 

"Second — Resolved, That as to children 
who at present do not attend Catholic 



204 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

schools, we direct in addition, that provision 
be made for Sunday schools, and, also, by 
instruction, on some other day or days of the 
week, and by urging parents to teach their 
children the Christian doctrine at their 
homes. 

'^Sunday and week-day schools should be 
under the direct supervision of the clergy, 
aided by the intelligent lay teachers, and, 
when possible, by the members of religious- 
teaching orders." 

These resolutions may be regarded as ex- 
pressing the mind of Leo XIII, for they 
were formulated under the influence of Mon- 
signor Satolli who was in the conference, and 
v/ho is the Pope's direct representative in this 
country at the present time. Archbishop 
Ireland declared concerning him, "he repre- 
sents the Pope. Opposition to him is opposi- 
tion to the Pope. He was sent directly 
by Pope Leo to speak to the archbishops, 
assembled in New York recently, the mind 
of Pope Leo on the school question." 

This high Catholic dignitary — America's 
Pope pro, tern, — gave utterance to the fol- 
lowing sentiments on the school question in 
bis address to the archbishops. 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 205 

"It is long since the Holy See, after con- 
sultation with the bishops of the United 
States of America, decreed that parish 
schools and other institutions under the di- 
rection of the Bishops, each according to the 
conditions of its own diocese, were opportune 
and necessary for Catholic youths, from 
the fact that it was held certain that the 
public shools have withinthemselvea approxi- 
mate danger to faith and morals for various 
reasons, viz: Because in the public schools 
a purely secular education is given, inasmuch 
as it excludes all teaching of religion, be- 
cause teachers are chosen indiscriminately 
from every sect, and no law prevents them 
from working the ruin of youth, so that they 
are at liberty to instill errors and the germs of 
vice in tender minds. Likewise, certain cor- 
ruption seemed to impend from the fact that 
in these schools, or at least in many of them, 
children of both sexes are brought together 
for their lessons in the same room. ^ -^ ^ 

We further desire you to strive earnestly 
that the various local authorities, firmly con- 
vinced that nothing is more conducive to the 
welfare of the commonwealth than religion, 



206 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

should by wise leg'islation provide that the 
system of education which is maintained at 
the public expense, and to which, there- 
fore, Catholics also contribute their share, 
he in no way prejudicial to their conscience or 
religion y 

Now these utterances contain a most 
serious charge. One of the Catholic objec- 
tions is that the ''teachers are chosen indis- 
criminately from every sect." And the 
charge is that ''no law prevents them from 
working the ruin of youth, so tha^ ^^^7 ^^^ 
at liberty to instil errors and the germs of 
vice in tender minds.." The demand is that 
our schools be conducted in such a way thpt 
they "be in no way prejudicial to their con- 
science or religion." The bishops and arch- 
bishops are urged to "strive earnestly" to 
secure such legislation as will meet this 
Catholic desire. 

Again he says: "We do not think that any 
one hereafter looking into these things 
clearly will let Catholic parents be forced 
to erect and support schools which they can- 
not use for the instruction of their children." 

He then proposes three plans by which 



KOMANISM UNCHANGED. 207 

their object may be obtained — the choice 
between these plans to be governed by local 
circumstances. Here is one of them: ''The 
first consists in an agreement between the 
bishops and the members of the school 
board, whereby, they, in a spirit of fairness 
and good will, allow the Catholic children 
to be assembled during free time and taught 
the catechism; it would also be of the 
greatest advantage if this plan was not 
confined to the primary, but was extended 
likewise to the high schools and colleges, 
in the form of a free lecture." 

This plan is to to be used when practicable. 
"In a spirit of fairness and good will" the 
school rooms are to be used, during free time, 
before school in the morning, at noon, or in 
the eventnof after the school work is done, 
for the Catholic catechism, or for free 
Catholic lectures. In the "same spirit of 
fairness and good will," the same privi- 
lege will, of course, be granted to the var- 
ious Protestant sects. 

To illustrate how their plan will work 
when developed under Catholic influence 
take the :^ollowing extract from the Herald 
of Gospel Liberty: 



208 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

"What Rome would do in the United 
States on the school question is clearly mani- 
fest from what she has done in the town of 
Elroy, Wisconsin, a place of 1600 inhabi- 
tants, with a union school of four rooms. 
The school is controlled by three commis- 
sioners elected by the people, and in the 
last election two Romanists were elected. 
The four teachers in charge were Protestants, 
but three were immediately dismissed and 
three Romanist teachers were given charge 
of their rooms. One Protestant teacher was 
retained, but against the protest of the Ro 
man element. Soon the priest of the village 
visited the school and ordered the Bible out. 
Later, he came again and ordered the use of 
the Roman catechism. The Protestant 
teacher refused, but she was told she could 
use it or resign. To keep her place, she 
consented to its use. 

Again the priest called and ordered the 
teachers to lead their pupils to the Roman 
church. The three Catholic teachers obeyed, 
but the Protestant teacher refused. The 
priest then ordered the school to follow him, 
and they were marched to the church, where 



ROMAXISM UNCHANGED. 209 

the priest baptized the assembled students 
into the Roman faith. The Protestant 
trustee then took the matter before the court, 
to restrain the priest from further interference. 
An injunction was granted, and the case was 
appealed to the supreme court of the state. 
This is a serious condition of things, and 
clearly reflects the purpose of Rome. Should 
the supreme court sustain the priest, there is 
trouble ahead of a serious, if not a san- 
guinary nature." 

The only school a true (catholic can be 
satisfied with is a Catholic school. It is true 
that just now Rome has sent out a flag of 
truce on the school question — but in the 
meantime she is gathering her forces and 
strengthening her fortifications. She pro- 
poses by the foregoing plan to thrust her 
head into the mill. Presently she will come 
in body and hoof and leave no room for the 
miller. Until she can do this her parochial 
school system must be urged forward. And 
the American people must be deluded into 
the belief that the public schools are not 
good enough for Catholic children, and that 
we are treating our Catholic citizens very 



210 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

shabily in requiring them to pay the school 
tax. 

Now the danger to our institutions arising 
from the parochial system is two fold. First, 
we have established in our midst an exten- 
sive system of education in direct and de- 
termined antagonism to our entire system 
of government. Its purpose is to imbue the 
citizens with a sentiment of intense hatred 
towards our principles and customs in gov- 
ernment. The second danger is in the de- 
mand, growing out of this system, for a di- 
vision of the public funds for the support 
of these church schools. This demand is 
already clamorous, and in some places it has 
been acceeded to either directly or indirectly. 
According to figures gathered from official 
documents by the editor of the Christian 
Worlds Roman Catholic institutions in New 
York city, received from the general public 
funds, in 1869, $412,063, while all other re- 
ligious and charitable institutions, Protestant 
Jewish, and public, received only $116,680. 
This of course does not refer to public 
schools, or to parochial schools as such. 
But it does indicate how the Cahtolic powers 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 211 

can, through the hand of corrupt officials, 
appropriate to themselves the public funds. 
And unless the danger signal is heeded they 
will soon have their hands upon the public 
school funds. 

Rev. Richard Harcourt says, ^'In seven 
years $17,134.90 of public money has been 
delivered over to the Roman Catholic Curch 
to make Romanists out of the American In- 
dians. In seventeen years that alien church 
has received from the public funds of the 
city of New York, $10,615,810." 

It is not reasonable to expect our Catholic 
citizens v^ill submit to being taxed by their 
church for the support of parochial schools, 
and at the same time vrillingly pay the gov- 
ernment school tax. In the final issue it 
cannot be doubted they will be found, for the 
most part, true to their education and loyal 
first of all to the Pope. They could not re- 
main Catholics and disobey the sovereign 
Pontiff. They are already becoming restless 
under the double burden. This utterance 
from Monsigncr Capel indicates what may be 
expected: "The time is not far away when 
the Roman Catholics of the Republic of the 



'^12 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

United States, at the order of the Pope, will 
refuse to pay the sc.hool tax, and will send 
bullets through the breasts of the govern- 
ment agents rather than pay it." This sounds 
like extravagant language. But it is in per- 
fect harmony with their uniform teaching. 
Our public schools are a ''fraud" "from the 
devil" — ''cannot be patronized by Catholic 
children without sin." The logic of their po- 
sition will drive them to the course indicated 
by Monsignor Capel. A« American citizens 
we migfht as well face the fact that the 
Catholic parochial school has come to stay. 
It is their sole defence against our Ameri- 
canizing public school system. It is essen- 
tial to their faith, it is necessary to their 
aintenance of a foothold in this country. 
And the destruction of our free school sys- 
tem is just as essential in their faith. To 
this end they are demanding a division of 
the school fund. "Divide and conquer" is 
their motto. If they should fail in securing 
a division of the public funds, their system 
will drive them to the refusal to pay public 
school tax as soon as they can gain sufficient 
numerical strength and political power to 
give them any hope of success. 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 218 

There are some who entertain the thougrht 
that our public school system can be so modi- 
fied as to meet the approval of our Catholic 
citizens. And some are proposing to take 
out the obnoxious Protestant Bible and sub- 
stitute an edition of the Bible approved by 
the Catholic church. But we must bear in 
mind that their real point of attack is state 
control of ediication. It is not the non-re - 
lio-ious character of the schools Their theory 
is, cMirch control of the schools^ and they 
will be satisfied with nothino- less. The fol- 
lowino-, taken from the Freeman'' s JournaLdi 
Catholic organ, is very clear: "We tell our 
respected contempora^ry, therefore, that it 
the Catholic translation of the Book of Holv 
Writ -^ -5^ -^ -^ were to be dissected by 
the ablest Catholic theologian in the land, and 
merely lessons to be taken from it — with all 
the notes and comments, in the popular edi- 
tions, and others added with the highest 
Catholic endorsement — and if these admi- 
rable Bible lessons, and these alone, were to 
be ruled as to be read in all the public 
schools, this would not diminish, in any sub- 
stantial degree, the objections we Catholics 



214 ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 

have to letting Catholic children attend the 
public schools. ^ ^ There is no possible 
programme o^ common school instruction 
that the Catholic Church can permit her 
children to accept?'' Nothing but full eccle- 
siastical control will satisfy any true Cath- 
olic. 

What is the purpose of the Catholic 
church in this country? Is she asking to be 
recognized and tolerated as other religious 
bodies? The answer to these questions is 
not far to seek. She is avowedly seeking 
political supremacy. This is her mission. 
Suppose the M. E. church, or the Presby- 
terian church, or the Baptist church, was 
seeking political supremacy, how long would 
we remain silent? 

In an encyclical letter of Nov. 7, 1885, 
Leo XIII. said: "We exhort all Catholics 
to devote careful attention to public matters, 
and take part in all municipal affairs and 
elections, and all public services, meetings 
and gatherings. All Catholics must make 
themselves felt as active elements in daily 
political life in countries where they live. 
All Catholics should exert their power to 



romaxis:m uxchaxged. 215 

cause the constitutions cf states to be modeled 
on the priQiciples oj- the true church^ ''If 
Catholics are idle the reins of power will 
easily be gained by persons whose opinions 
can surely afford little prospect of welfare 
Hence Catholics have just reason to enter 
political life -^ ^ ^ * rr having in 
mind the purpose cf introducing the vihole- 
some life-blood oJ Catholic v:isdom and vir- 
tue into the icJiole system cf the state. All 
Catholics who are worthy of tl*e name must 
^ ^ ^ ^ work to the end, that every 
state be made comformable to the Christian 
model we have described." 

Dr. Brownson, in the Catholic Jievieic\ 
July, 1864, said: '^'Undoubtedly it is the 
intention of the Pope to possess this country. 
In this intention he is aided by Jesuites and 
all the Catholic prelates and priests." The 
Catholic Worlds in an article entitled "The 
Catholics of the Nineteenth Century," gave 
expression to this sentiment: "To the Cath- 
olics of to-day is committed the obligation 
and business of perpetuating and regener- 
ating society, purifying legislation, enforcing 
the administration of the laws, and setting an 



*^16 ROMAXISM XJXCHAlSrGirP. 

example of private and public virtue, jus- 
tice, moderation and forbearance. He has 
been furnisbed with an omnipotent weapon 
with which to accomplish this- great work 
and he is provided with an unerring guide to 
direct him in the administration of these im- 
portant trusts. We do not hesitate to affirm 
that in performing our duties as citizens^ 
electors and public officers^ we should alioaySj 
and under all circumstances^ act simply as 
Catholics/ that we should be governed and 
directed by the immutable principles of our 
religion, and should take dogmatic faith and 
the conclusions drawn from it, as expressed 
and defined in Catholic philosophy, theology, 
and morality, as the rule of our private and 
public and political conduct.'' 

The same paper said again: ''A land of 
promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, 
is spread out before them (the Catholics), 
and ofEered for their acceptance. The means 
placed at their disposal for securing this rich 
possession are not the sword, or wars of ex- 
termination urged against the enemies of 
their religion, but^ instead^ the mild and 
peaceful influence of the ballot^ directed by 



i?istrncted Catholic conscience and enlight- 
ened by Ccdholic intelligence, ^ ^ ^ ^ 
It is in the power of the (catholic voter of 
the nineteenth century to achieve a consum- 
mation such as perhaps saints and prophets 
have dreamed, but never seen." 

And again: "She (the church) speaks al- 
ways and everywhere with the authority of 
God, as the final cause of creation, and there- 
fore her words are law, her commands are 
the commands of God. This being so it is 
clear that religious liberty mast consist in tht 
unrestrained freedom aiid independente of 
the church to teach and govern all men and 
nations^ princes and people^ riders andrided^ 
in all things enjoined by the theological law 
of man's existence, and therefore in the 
recognition and maintenance for the church 
of that very supreme authority which the 
Popes have always claimed.'' 

Bishop O'Connor, of Pittsburgh, said: "Re- 
ligious liberty is merely endured until the 
opposite can be carried into operation with- 
out peril to the Catholic world." And the 
Archbishop of St. Louis said: "If the Cath- 
olics ever gain, which they surely will, an 



218 r.OMAXISM UXCilAXGED. 

immense numerical majority, reli^rious free- 
dom in thii country will be at an end.'^ 
Archbishop Kendrick said: -'Heresy and 
unbelief are crim.es; and in Christian coun- 
tries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, 
where the Catholic religion is the essential 
law of the land, they are punished as other 
crimes." M. Louis Venillot, a distinguished 
French Roman L'atholic, says: "When there 
is a Protestant majority we claim religious 
liberty because such is their principle, but 
when we are in majority we refuse it because 
that is ours/'' 

Their purpose is very clearly and frankly 
stated by their own leaders. But is there 
any possible danger of their ever being able 
to carry it out in this country where the 
people are sovereign? Statistics will 
show that the Catholic population is increas- 
ing much more rapidly than the membership 
of the evangelical churches, and much more 
rapidly than the entire population of the 
country. "From 1850 to 1880 the popu- 
lation increased 116 per cent., the communi- 
cants of evangelical churches 185 per cent., 
and the Romanist population 294 per cent." 



EOMANISM UXCHANGED. 219 

la 1890 a conservative estimate gave them 
8,277,089. That is, more than one-eighth of 
the population is Catholic. In 1887 Father 
Hecker said: ''The Catholics will outnum- 
ber, before the close of this century, all other 
believers in Christianity put together, in the 
republic." They are certainly increasing 
in this country with sufficient rapidity to 
create deep concern in the hearts of the 
thoughtful, liberty- loving patriots. 

Ex priest Charles Chiniquy, said in his 
book, "Fifty years in the Church of Rome," 
"Americans must be blind ineded, if they 
cannot sea the day is very near • when the 
Jesuites will rule their cities, from the mag- 
niffcent White House at Washington to the 
humblest civil or military department of this 
vast Republic." 

Now what I have written is designed to 
point out the inherent antagonism between 
our government and its free institutions and 
Roman Catholicism. It is true some of their 
representatives in high place deny that there 
is any antagonism between the principles and 
spirit of Romanism and the genius and in- 
stitutions of our country. But sometimes, in 



220 ROMANISM UNCHAJ^GED. 

unguarded moments, they speak out with 
great frankness. Take this, from the Cath^ 
olio World: "The difference between Cath- 
olics and Protestants is not a difference in 
details or particulars, but a difference in 
principle. Catholicity must be taught as a 
whole, in its unity and integrity, or it is not 
taught at all. It must everywhere be all or 
nothing. It is not a simple theory of truth 
or a collection of doctrines; it is an organ- 
ism, a living body, living and operating from 
its own central life, and is necessarily one 
and indivisible, mid cannot have anything in 
common with any other hody,'''* 

No matter how affable and bland her rep- 
resentatives may be, the above statement is 
true. Romanism -^'cannot have anything in 
common with any other body." The Ethio- 
pian cannot change his skin or the leopard 
his spots. Many of these individual Cath- 
olic gentlemen may love our country, but so 
long as they remain Catholic, they must pro- 
pagate a system in utter antagonism to our 
principles and customs. The old dogmas 
may be mouldy and malodorous. The spirit- 
ual prince on the Tiber may mourn in the 



ROMANISM UNCHANGED. 221 

midst of his dismantled temporal power, but 
he does not mourn without hope. Rome as 
a church still plots as keenly as ever, and is 
doing every thing she possibly can to realize 
her aim. 

The conflict has begun — what will the end 
be? We cannot foretell for our country. 
Energetic and concerted effort on the part of 
the Protestant forces of this country would 
soon settle the contest. But it is difficult to 
arouse and unite the forces vv^hich would from 
principle and from sympathy be disposed to 
arrest this foe of our liberties. In the mean- 
time the enemy is worming its way into po- 
litical influence, and the present corrupt 
state of our politics seems to furnish them a 
favorable opportunity. It w^as not without 
sicrnificance that the chairman of each of the 
old party national committees was a Catholic 
in the campaign of 1892. We do not appre- 
hend that she will ever regain her lost tem- 
poral power. We do not think she will ever 
dominate this country. But she may under- 
mine our liberties, and do much evil in our 
government, in her selfish and bigoted efforts 
to realize her purposes. 



222 llOMAXISM UjS^OHANGED. 

In the meantime we can readily forecast 
her end. Her own false policy dooms her to 
final destruction. If she would only open 
her eyes and look toward the Vaudois Alps, 
she might read her doom graven on ea-^h 
heaven piercing peak. There may be seen 
a spectral company of the hallowed dead 
writing with shadowy fingers a legend on 
the rocks, the tiny babe crushed beneath 
the soldier's heel, the fair mother hewn to 
pieces on the snow, the old man burned on 
the funeral pyre. They write, "Whosoe\er 
shall harm one of these little ones, it were 
better for him that a mill-stone had been 
hanged about his neck and he were drowned 
in the depth of the sea." 

"But now her day of mirth has passed, and come 

Her day to weep, her day of bitter groans, 

And sorrow unbemoaned, the day of grief 

And wrath retributory poured in fulJ 

On all that took her part. The man of sin. 

The mystery of iniguity, her friend 

Sincere, who pardoned sin, unpardoned still, 

And in the name of God blasphemed, and did 

All wicked, all abominable things, 

Most abject stood, that day, by devils hissed. 

And by the looks of those he murdered, scorched; 

And plagued with inward shame, that on his cheek 

Burned, while his votaries, who left the earth. 

Secure of bliss, around him, undeceived, 

Stood, undeceivable till then; and knew, 

Too late, him fallible, themselves accursed. 

And all their passports and certificates, 

A lie. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: iVlarch 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 1; 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1, 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 

('724) 779-2111 

*#1 



